Nasir el-Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje have exchanged accusations concerning the disappearance of Abubakar Idris, a social media commentator popularly known as Dadiyata.
Dadiyata was kidnapped on August 2, 2019, by unknown gunmen while entering his home in Barnawa, Kaduna state. His disappearance triggered public outrage and several legal efforts by his relatives and civil society groups.
In 2020, a federal high court in Kaduna directed the (DSS) and other security agencies to produce him, but the agency denied that he was in its custody.
Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, el-Rufai distanced himself from the incident.
“Dadiyata was not a fierce critic of the Kaduna state government. He was a fierce critic of the Kano state government,” he said.
“He is a Kwankwasiya guy; he lives in Kaduna and lectures at a university in Katsina state, but is a fierce critic not of Kaduna state. Go and review his timeline.
“It was Ganduje that was his problem. I didn’t even know him. We only got the report of the Dadiyata’s existence and the fact that he lives in Kaduna state after the family reported to the police that he was abducted as he was returning home in the evening.
“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. We didn’t even know he existed.”
El-Rufai further alleged that a police officer later made a confession.
“Three years after Dadiyata was abducted, a policeman who was posted out of Kano to Ekiti state confessed to someone that they were sent from 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 state problem.”
Amid the renewed debate, a December 23, 2019, post on X by resurfaced. The post came about four months after Dadiyata went missing, when some Nigerians were demanding justice using the hashtag #WhereIsDadiyata.
“The same clowns who encouraged him when he was creating false stories and capitalizing on lies that could endanger lives solely for political ends are the same individuals trending hashtags asking #WhereisDadiyata. Dangerous lies in the public space have consequences,” Bashir wrote.
GANDUJE REJECTS ALLEGATION
Ganduje, in a statement signed by Muhammad Garba, a former Kano commissioner for information and internal affairs, dismissed the claims.
He described the allegation as “reckless, unfounded and a clear attempt to shift responsibility for an incident that occurred entirely within Kaduna State”.
The former Kano governor maintained that Dadiyata resided and worked in Kaduna and was known for criticising the Kaduna government.
“Everyone in Kaduna knew the nature of the criticism he made and who it was directed at,” he said.
Ganduje also questioned el-Rufai’s account of a police confession.
“It is difficult to reconcile a claim of having no prior knowledge of the individual with simultaneously making detailed assertions about who was responsible,” Ganduje said.
“The family deserves closure. What they do not deserve is for this tragic matter to become an instrument of political blame-shifting.”