The wife of a Nigerian lecturer who was kidnapped in Kaduna has spoken out about the very sad incident.
It has been four months since Abubakar Idris, a lecturer with the
Federal University Dutsinma (FUDMA), Katsina State was abducted from his
Kaduna home in his own car. His wife, Khadija Ahmad, who said she hid
herself watching the sad incident of her husband’s abduction, said she
initially thought her husband’s kidnappers were car snatchers.
Speaking with our correspondent in an exclusive interview in Kaduna on
Thursday, Mrs. Ahmad said she had suspected that something was amiss the
moment Idris’s abductors walked into the compound as he made to park
his car that night.
She said: “My husband arrived from a journey around 1 am on that
fateful day. He opened the gate and drove his car into the compound. I
opened the curtain and I saw him as he drove in. As he was about to
alight from the car to go and close the gate, two people walked into the
compound.
“I was still watching from the window when I saw the two men move towards him, one on each side of the car.
“I became suspicious and called one of my neighbours to explain what I
had seen, saying that we needed to contact security. She dropped my call
and called the police. She then called me back to say she had called
the police, but that I should not panic or come out since we did not
know who they were.
“When I saw them initially, I thought they were armed robbers. I was
tempted to go out, but my neighbour called me again, asking me not to go
out, that the police would soon come. Then she asked me for his
vehicle’s registration number, make and colour of the car, and I told
her.
“At that time, I even forgot to tell my neighbour that my husband was
actually coming from Kano, not Katsina. He had told me that, he went to
Kano from Katsina and that he was coming home from Kano.
“So, by the time the police came, I had forgotten all those details. I
only told them that he was coming Katsina. It was later that I told them
he went to Kano before coming to Kaduna.
“Initially, I didn’t know he was going to come home too until we spoke
on the phone around 12 am. That was when he told me he was on his way
back to Kaduna.
“Before I could leave the bedroom where I was watching them from to the
sitting room, I discovered that they had put him back into the car. So, I
called my neighbour again that, I was no longer seeing my husband
standing, because I initially thought they were armed robbers planning
to snatch his car. But she still asked me to calm down, that if God
willed, the police would nab them.
“I don’t know how they came or whether they brought a car. But one of
them drove out the car with my husband inside, while the other remained
in the compound. He waited to lock the gate, then he went out too.
“So, since that night they drove him away in his car, his phone has been
switched off and we have not heard anything. They have not called
anyone.
“A while after they had gone away with him, the police came. The police
came around 2 pm. They made calls and assured us that the culprits would
be arrested; that they had called for every road to be blocked.
“One of the policemen that was calling their colleagues in other places
told us that their colleagues had seen the vehicle heading towards
Tudun-Wada, but since then, we never heard anything again.
“We the family are appealing to whoever is holding my husband to please
release him. Whatever he might have done to them, they should please
pardon him and release him. But, to the best of my knowledge, he did not
have any problem with anybody.
“My husband is a very friendly person, he relates with people well, but he doesn’t hide his feelings about things.”
Concern over continued silence of abductors
The abduction of Idris, a lecturer in the Department of Languages and
Linguistics at FUDMA, and the ominous silence by security agencies, the
governments at federal and state levels and even his abductors who have
neither spoken with the family nor demanded a ransom, has left the
academic community and members of his immediate family in a despondent
state.
Summing up the concern of the academic community over Idris, his
colleague and Chairman of the FUDMA branch of the Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU), Comrade Yahaya Mohammed, said: “On October 11,
2019 the branch submitted a letter to the office of the Commissioner of
Police, Kaduna State, formerly reporting the case and soliciting his
quick intervention to trace his whereabouts, but up till now, there has
been no positive response.’’
Similar requests allegedly made by the union and the family of the
abducted lecturer made to the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Ahmed
el-Rufai through his deputy was also said to have suffered the same fate
till date.
The ASUU boss added: ’’We call to formally notify Nigerians of the
mysterious abduction of one of the branch members. He was abducted from
his residence at Shagari Low-cost, Barnawa, Kaduna State on the 2nd of
August, 2019 at about 1:00 a.m. by unknown persons.
“Mr. Abubakar Idris is a lecturer in the Department of Languages and
Linguistics, Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State. His family
formally reported the case to the police and other security agencies in
the state, but no positive response has been received from any security
agency.
“His abductors have till date neither called for a ransom nor stated any
other reason for his abduction. If he has done anything or committed an
offence, he should be brought before the court of law and charged.’’
He recalled that the union submitted a letter to the Kaduna State
Commissioner of Police on October 11 this year, soliciting his quick
intervention to trace Idris’s whereabouts but there was no positive
response.
The union viewed the abduction of its member as inhuman and an abuse of
his basic human right, leading to tension and uncertainty among the
members of the university community and his family in particular.
ASUU therefore implored the security agencies to be more proactive in
“finding out the whereabouts of our missing member and his immediate
release. We also appeal to well-meaning Nigerians to support us in this
crusade.”
On its part, the management of FUDMA called on ASUU nationwide and other
Nigerians to pray for the release Idris, who is being held without
trace.
A statement issued by FUDMA’s Acting Director Public Relations and
Protocol, Habibu Matazu, also appealed to his abductors to release the
lecturer.
He said: “The university notes that since the abduction, there has
been no trace of the victim, as there was no demand for ransom or any
other lead as to his whereabouts.
“The university’s management had reported the matter to all the relevant
security agencies and Governors El-Rufai and Aminu Masari for their
intervention.
“It is inhuman and an abuse of human rights the abduction of a family
man like Abubakar Idris whose detention had generated tension and
uncertainties for members of the university community and his family in
particular.
“The university appeals to his abductors to kindly release him so he can report back to his work place and loved ones.”
The management also assured members of the university community that it
would not relent in working more closely with security agencies to get
the lecturer back home safely.
The statement added that the management had approved financial support
for the family of Idris and had delegated a three-man committee to
sympathise with them over the incident.
The lack of reaction from the security agencies and the Kaduna State
Government over the kidnap of the varsity lecturer appears most
worrisome, considering the fact that past cases of abduction and
criminality in the state were given wider publicity and followed by
relevant agencies and the state government.
Previous incidents of abduction in the state, including the abduction of
school pupils and their teachers at a secondary school on Kaduna-Abuja
Road, were constantly in the news with regular updates by security
agencies and government until the victims were eventually freed with or
without ransom paid on their release. But in Idris’s case, there has
been absolute silence or contradictory response from those concerned.
Gambo Isah, a Superintendent of Police and spokesman of Katsina State
Command, absolved the command in the case when he reminded The Nation
during an exclusive interview in Katsina that the crime was committed in
Kaduna State hence it is the response of the Kaduna State Command that
should be sought in the matter
We haven’t lost hope of his return — HOD
When our correspondent visited the Department of Languages and
Linguistics, Federal University of Dutsinma to seek their reaction on
the missing lecturer and colleague, the mood among the members of the
department and students was pensive.
Dr Oni Funke, the Acting Head of Department of Language and Linguistics,
said the department was still waiting for him to resume his teaching
duties in the department.
She said: “The university has not retired him or relieved him of his
appointment, so his work is here waiting for him. The school has been
magnanimous to him, knowing he did not abscond from duty; just that he
was kidnapped.
“His abductors should show mercy, he is a family man. I am sure his wife and children are missing him.
Source: The Nation
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