‘Ask Kano about his disappearance’ | ‘Attempt to shift responsibility’ — Ganduje, el-Rufai trade words over Dadiyata

Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna state, andAbdullahi Ganduje, ex-governor of Kano state, have traded words over thedisappearance of Abubakar Idris, a social media commentator known as Dadiyata. Dadiyata was abducted on August 2, 2019, by unidentifiedgunmen as he drove into his residence in Barnawa, Kaduna state. His disappearance sparked outrage and multiple legal actionsby his family and civil society organisations. In 2020, a federal high court in Kaduna ordered theDepartment of State Security (DSS) and other agencies to produce him, but theagency denied having him in custody. Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, el-Rufai denied anyinvolvement in the disappearance. “Dadiyata was not a fierce critic of the Kaduna stategovernment. He was a fierce critic of the Kano state government,” he said. “He is a Kwankwasiya guy; he lives in Kaduna and lectures ata university in Katsina state, but is a fierce critic not of Kaduna state. Goand review his timeline. “It was Ganduje that was his problem. I didn’t even knowhim. We only got the report of the Dadiyata’s existence and the fact that helives in Kaduna state after the family reported to the police that he wasabducted as he was returning home in the evening. “If anybody is to be asked about the disappearance ofDadiyata, it is the Kano state government; it has nothing to do with the Kadunastate government. We didn’t even know he existed.” El-Rufai also claimed that a police officer made aconfession years later. “Three years after Dadiyata was abducted, a policeman whowas posted out of Kano to Ekiti state confessed to someone that they were sentfrom Kano and they abducted Dadiyata, and he felt bad about it,” he said. “That’s the only thing I know; it was not a Kaduna stateproblem.” However, a December 23, 2019, post on X by Bashir el-Rufai,son of the former Kaduna governor, resurfaced amid the renewed controversy. The post was made about four months after Dadiyata’sdisappearance as some Nigerians demanding for justice under the hashtag#WhereIsDadiyata. “The same clowns who encouraged him when he was creatingfalse stories and capitalizing on lies that could endanger lives solely forpolitical ends are the same individuals trending hashtags asking#WhereisDadiyata. Dangerous lies in the public space have consequences,” Bashirwrote. GANDUJE REJECTS ALLEGATION Ganduje, through a statement signed by Muhammad Garba,former Kano commissioner for information and internal affairs, rejected theallegation. He described the claim as “reckless, unfounded and a clearattempt to shift responsibility for an incident that occurred entirely withinKaduna State”. The governor said Dadiyata lived and operated in Kaduna andwas widely known for criticising the Kaduna government. “Everyone in Kaduna knew the nature of the criticism he madeand who it was directed at,” he said. The former Kano governor questioned el-Rufai’s claim about apolice confession “It is difficult to reconcile a claim of having no priorknowledge of the individual with simultaneously making detailed assertionsabout who was responsible,” Ganduje said. “The family deserves closure. What they do not deserve isfor this tragic matter to become an instrument of political blame-shifting.”

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