A former Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has denied any involvement in the disappearance of social media commentator and critic, Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata.
The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress described allegations against him as baseless and politically motivated.
themomentng reports that Dadiyata, a lecturer and online commentator, was abducted on August 2, 2019, by unidentified gunmen as he drove into his home in Barnawa, Kaduna.
His whereabouts remain unknown, and the incident has continued to attract public attention and demands for accountability.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Friday, a former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, denied any involvement in the case and argued that the missing commentator was primarily critical of the Kano administration rather than the Kaduna government.
“Dadiyata was not a fierce critic of the Kaduna state government. He was a fierce critic of the Kano state government.
“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,” he said.
El-Rufai further stated that he was unaware of Dadiyata before the abduction was reported to the police.
“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,” he said.
The former Kaduna governor also referenced what he described as a later confession by a police officer.
“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.
However, Ganduje dismissed the allegation in a statement issued on Saturday by his former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba.
He described the claims as “reckless, unfounded and a clear attempt to shift responsibility for an incident that occurred entirely within Kaduna State.
According to the former Kano governor, Dadiyata was widely known in Kaduna for his criticism of the state government.
“Everyone in Kaduna knew the nature of the criticism he made and who it was directed at,” he said.
Ganduje also questioned the consistency of El-Rufai’s remarks, particularly the reference to an alleged 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.
“The family deserves closure. What they do not deserve is for this tragic matter to become an instrument of political blame-shifting,” he said.
