Amnesty International Slams FG Over Six-Year Silence On Missing Activist Dadiyata
Six years after the disappearance of Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata, Amnesty International on Saturday took a swipe at the Federal Government over what it described as “deafening silence and shameful inaction” in resolving the activist’s disappearance.
Dadiyata, a university lecturer, fierce government critic, and online political commentator, was reportedly taken by masked men from his home in Kaduna on August 2, 2019.
He had just returned from work when the armed men whisked him away in his own vehicle.
Since that night, neither he nor his car has been seen again.
Addressing journalists in Kaduna during a press conference organised to mark the sixth anniversary of the incident, Amnesty International’s Country Director, Isa Sanusi, described Dadiyata’s case as a disturbing metaphor for the Nigerian state’s growing hostility to dissent.
“His family waited that night, hoping he’d walk back in. They waited the next day. Then weeks, months, now six years.
“We are still asking the same question — Where is Dadiyata?” he said.
Sanusi described the government’s posture since 2019 as negligent and complacent
“Even if the government claims it didn’t take him, it failed to protect him. That is a fundamental breach of responsibility,” he declared.
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He accused the security agencies, particularly the police and the Department of State Services, of issuing “weak and weightless promises” and treating the case with levity.
“Till today, there has been no credible update, no official report, no accountability. Just silence. Shameful silence,” Sanusi said.
He warned that the nature of the abduction bore the hallmark of “enforced disappearance,” a tactic associated with authoritarian regimes aimed at stifling dissent and intimidating civic voices.
“This is not just about Dadiyata. It’s about a dangerous trend. This is a warning to anyone who dares to speak truth to power in Nigeria,” Sanusi said.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to break the silence and direct a full, independent investigation into the case, noting that the Buhari administration failed woefully in that regard.
