Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu has ordered the Police Monitoring Unit to investigate allegations that two senior officers were involved in the 2019 disappearance and alleged killing of activist Abubakar Idris, also known as Dadiyata.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Police Monitoring Unit (PMU) to launch an investigation into two senior officers linked to the disappearance of Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata. The directive, contained in an official acknowledgment letter dated May 8, 2026, follows a petition from Kano-based human rights lawyer Abba Hikima. The petition demands a transparent probe into CSP Hussaini Gimba and CSP Hassan Gimba following explosive claims that the missing activist and lecturer may have been extrajudicially executed.
The call for an investigation was triggered by revelations from Muhammad Musa Kamarawa, a former Senior Special Assistant to the immediate past Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle. Kamarawa allegedly stated that during an encounter at the Operations Yaki facility in Kaduna, the two officers used Dadiyata’s fate as a death threat against him. According to the petition, Kamarawa alleged that the officers “threatened to kill me as they killed Dadiyata and Saminu S/Fada Gusau amongst others in my presence at Operations Yaki Kaduna.” Hikima argued that such direct testimony from a witness who claims to have been present during the alleged killing is too significant for the police hierarchy to ignore.
Dadiyata, an outspoken social media critic and lecturer at Federal University Dutsin-Ma, has been missing since August 2, 2019, when he was abducted from his residence in Barnawa, Kaduna. For nearly seven years, his whereabouts remained a mystery despite global calls for his release and multiple lawsuits against security agencies. In his petition, Hikima emphasized that a credible investigation is now essential to either clear the named officers or ensure they face the law. “Accordingly, where a citizen expressly claims that he witnessed the killing of Dadiyata and directly linked same to named police officers, there is an urgent need for a thorough, independent and credible investigation into the allegation,” the lawyer stated.
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