Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has reopened its investigation into the 2019 disappearance of government critic Abubakar Idris, widely known as Dadiyata, according to a senior security source.
The source also alleged that DSS officers seized the passport of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai last Thursday at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in order to prevent him from travelling to Egypt after a brief visit to Nigeria.
According to the source, Mr El-Rufai was aware that he was under investigation in connection with Dadiyata’s abduction and had planned visits to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) before returning to Cairo. The passport seizure allegedly disrupted those plans.
The security source said the decision to reopen the case followed months of investigation, with leads said to suggest that Mr El-Rufai, who was governor at the time of the disappearance, may have been involved. The allegations have not been independently verified, and the former governor has previously denied any wrongdoing.
Dadiyata, a lecturer in the Department of English and Linguistics at Federal University Dutsinma in Katsina State, was declared missing on 1 August 2019 after gunmen reportedly abducted him from his home in Kaduna. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Speaking on ARISE News last Friday, Mr El-Rufai said he had heard of a confession allegedly made by a police officer who claimed he was part of a team sent from Kano to abduct Dadiyata.
“Three years after he was abducted, a policeman who was posted from Kano to Ekiti State confessed to someone that they were sent from Kano to abduct Dadiyata,” he said, adding that this was all he knew about the matter.
When asked about reports that Dadiyata had been one of his critics, Mr El-Rufai said he was not aware of the lecturer’s existence. He suggested instead that Dadiyata was associated with the Kwankwasiyya political movement and was therefore a political opponent of former Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
“If anybody is to be asked about the disappearance of Dadiyata, it is the Kano State Government; it has nothing to do with the Kaduna State Government,” he said.
The security source dismissed Mr El-Rufai’s account as implausible and further alleged that the DSS investigation extended to two of his sons. He also cited provisions of Nigeria’s Criminal Code and Penal Code regarding the concealment of evidence and the duty of citizens to assist in crime reporting.
The DSS has yet to issue an official public statement on the reported reopening of the case or the seizure of Mr El-Rufai’s passport.
