''On August 2, 2019, Mr. Idris, who is better known as Dadiyata, was abducted by unidentified assailants who seized him from his residence in Barnawa neighborhood of Kaduna State. He was returning home at about 1 a.m. that day when some armed men breached his home’s security and whisked him away in his BMW car, the state police said at the time.
It’s almost a year since that happened, neither he nor his car has been found.
Mr. Idris, who should be 35 this year, known for his critical stance against the ruling class, especially the ruling APC, has an appreciable following on the microblogging site Twitter, his virtual activism space.
He would often tweet condemning the non-payment of salaries in Kogi State, trolling President Muhammadu Buhari for his certificate forgery allegations, and poking jibes at the Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje, who was filmed stuffing bribes into his babanriga, a local outfit worn in the northern part of the country. Sometimes, his criticisms take the face of sarcasm, but at other times, they are downrightly scathing.
Notorious for arresting critics and often times keeping them incommunicado without trial, agents of the State Security Service (SSS) were, at first, fingered for Mr. Idris’ bizarre disappearance.
For what she considered illegal detention, Mrs. Idris sued the SSS Kaduna command, the commissioner of police and the state government, seeking the “unconditional release” of her husband and payment of the sum of N50 million in damages. But, both the SSS and police denied arresting Mr. Idris. Their denial deepened worries on what might have been Mr. Idris’ fate, especially because his captors have also not demanded a ransom, about a year after.
Regardless, some Nigerians still believe Mr. Idris’ disappearance has to do with his critical anti-government political views.