Seven years after the mysterious disappearance of Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata, his wife, Khadija Ahmed Lane, has renewed her emotional plea to authorities: bring her husband back — dead or alive.
Dadiyata, a 34-year-old lecturer at the Federal University Dutsin-Ma, was abducted on August 2, 2019, by unidentified armed men.
He was intercepted as he drove into his residence in Barnawa, Kaduna State. Since that night, his family says they have neither seen nor heard from him.
Social media commentator and Ambassador-designate Reno Omokri visited the family home in Kaduna, where Khadija recounted the painful events.
“He was taken from our house,” she said quietly. “I pray, whoever is in charge of this, we pray one day he come back. We will know something, if he’s alive or not. We pray one day he will come back. Inshallah.”
Standing at the exact spot where the incident occurred, she explained how her husband was seized.
“He was in front of this building. He came out from his car. The car was parked here. He came out from his car. And they took him from here,” she said, pointing to the front gate. From that day in 2019, she says, there has been nothing — no contact, no explanation, no closure. “We have not seen him. We have not heard from him.”
When asked about comments allegedly made on December 23, 2019, by Bashir El-Rufai, son of former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, mocking her husband’s disappearance, Khadija said she only learned about it later. “No, it’s somebody that shows me that. I don’t have a phone back then. I felt bad about it. I can’t even express.”
Omokri also referenced recent public denials by Nasir El-Rufai, who reportedly distanced himself from the case and blamed another former governor. Khadija, however, declined to engage in political exchanges.
“We will know something, if he’s alive or not. We pray one day he will come back. Inshallah,” she repeated.
