The Department of State Services on Monday opened up on why it seized the passport of the former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, and admitted that it is investigating the man and his son over their alleged involvement in the disappearance of one Abubakar Idris better known as Dadiyata, in 2019.
A top security source, who made the disclosure, also
revealed that last Thursday’s seizure of the former governor’s passport by DSS
officers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport, Abuja, was to stop him
from fleeing to Egypt after briefly visiting Nigeria.
The security source said, “El’Rufai is fully aware that the
DSS is investigating him for Dadiyata’s kidnap. So, he planned to visit the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, and then, visit the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC) on
Tuesday. Thereafter, he will fly back to Cairo. Seizing his passport has
shattered his plans”.
According to the security source, the reopening of
Dadiyata’s kidnap case followed months of intense investigations whose lead
suggested that El’Rufai, who was Kaduna State governor at the time of
Dadiyata’s disappearance, knew about the disappearance of Dadiyata.
It will be recalled that the lecturer in the Department of
English and Linguistics at the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State,
Dadiyata was on August 1, 2019, declared missing by his wife after some gunmen
abducted him from his Kaduna home and his whereabouts have remained unknown
till date.
But on his appearance on Arise Tv last week, el-Rufai, who
was governor between 2015 and 2023, said that he was privy to a confession
allegedly made by a certain remorseful policeman that he was part of a team
sent from Kano to abduct Dadiyata.
The former governor said, “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 and that the officer
was worried about that. That is all I know,” el-Rufai stated.
However, when he was reminded by the television anchor that
Dadiyata was believed to be his critic, el-Rufai denied knowledge of the
missing man, who he claimed was a supporter of the Kwankwasiyya movement, and a
political opponent of the then Kano State governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
El-Rufai said, “It was Ganduje that was his (Dadiyata’s)
problem. I didn’t even know him…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”.
The security source stated that El-Rufai’s allegation that a
certain police officer made such damning confession, and that he kept mum over
such vital information, was beyond belief.
“We are talking of Dadiyata who was kidnapped in Kaduna in
2019. Assuming without conceding that such alleged confession was brought to
El’Rufai knowledge ‘three years later,’ as he claimed, in 2023, when he either
was still governor or had just left office.
“Don’t forget that Dadiyata’s kidnap drew tremendous
international attention, with international human rights organisations like
Amnesty International raising dust over the matter. Discreet investigations
revealed that El-Rufai had been using ex-Governor Ganduje and the phantom
police officer as alibi. It was good he repeated same on live television,” the
source pointed out.
“It would be interesting to know what a man who had been a
Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and governor of the state where
the crime was known to have been committed, did with such key information,”
stated the officer, adding, “even if he left office, another question is if he
passed the information to his successor or to any law enforcement agency”.
“El’Rufai is fully aware that the DSS is investigating him
and his two sons for Dadiyata’s kidnap. That was why he rushed to ARISE news
channel to cook up stories about Ganduje and the confessions of a ghost police
officer, all in a bid to divert attention. He is aware of the security
implication of seizing his passport. He knows he can’t officially leave the
country, which is very bad for him.
According to the source, several laws place a responsibility
on citizens to assist with crime reporting and prevention. Section 123 of the
Criminal Code Act prohibits the willful destruction or concealment of evidence,
while the Criminal Code Act and the Penal Code, applicable to Kaduna State,
deals with covering up treason, destroying evidence, or aiding suspects.”
The source said the secret police would also be interested
in how El-Rufai’s sons contradicted his position that Dadiyata never posed a
threat to his government, and that he didn’t know of his (Dadiyata’s) existence
until he was reported missing.
“Former governor El-Rufai claimed that until Dadiyata’s
disappearance, he didn’t know that anybody with such name existed. However,
social media posts by his sons, Bello and Bashir, suggest otherwise. Posts by
his sons on “X” clearly showed that Dadiyata was a problem to the family,”
offered the officer, stressing, “that is why Bello and Bashir will be invited
alongside their father to help in our investigations.”
The source pointed to the fact that less than five months
after Dadiyata went missing, Bashir, at about 10.16 pm on December 23, 2019,
posted an interesting message on his “X” handle @BashirElrufai, saying: “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 people trending hashtags asking #WhereisDadiyata!
Doubling down on his younger brother’s post, Bello, now a
member of the House of Representatives, on March 11, 2020, at 11.58 am, using
his verified handle @B_ELRUFAI, tweeted, “The things that we’ve done to protect
the name are unsettling. But no regrets, though, the name’ll echo. Years later,
none greater. Death to a coward and a traitor, that’s just in my nature.”
On why the DSS waited this long to invite the El-Rufais, and
if the invitation wouldn’t be given political colouration, the source said the
secret police had spent months working in concert with sister security agencies
on the matter.
“The DSS has been investigating El’Rufai’s links to the
Dadiyata case for some time. The secret police have been working with the EFCC
and the ICPC for over a year. Don’t forget that El-Rufai was governor for eight
years. He served as FCT Minister, and faced very intense probe after his tenure
as minister.
“We are not concerned with whether the man (El-Rufai) has
issues with the EFCC and the ICPC. Those are issues that may border on
corruption and abuse of office. Don’t forget that in June 2024, the Kaduna
State House of Assembly sent an SOS to the EFCC and ICPC to help the state
recover over N423 billion allegedly misappropriated by the el-Rufai
administration. In this case, the DSS is concerned with those who were
kidnapped allegedly on his orders,” the source said.
An ICPC source, however, added that, several months after
the Kaduna Assembly sent reports to the EFCC and ICPC, his office could not get
some powerful fronts of the former governor who were indicted in the State
Assembly report, show up for interviews in ICPC offices in Kaduna and Abuja
Meanwhile, notable Nigerians and many others on social
media, have heightened the call on security agencies to investigate the
El-Rufais for Dadiyata”s disappearance.
Among those calling for the arrest of the El’Rufais are the
immediate past governor of Kano State, whom El’Rufai fingered, Dr. Abdullahi
Ganduje, African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate in the 2023
general election, Omoyele Sowore, Ambassador -designate, Reno Omokri.
Also, prominent human rights activists like Prof. Chidi
Odinkalu and Deji Adeyanju, as well as a former Kaduna senator, Shehu Sani,
have called for his prosecution for the kidnap of Dadiyata.
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