“Qaddara tariga fata”, Hausa adage meaning “destiny cannot be denied, it can only be delayed.
Ideally, the primary assignment and responsibility of every government is to protect the life and the property of its citizens without discrimination.
However, even if accidentally a citizen goes missing, then still its the duty of the government to find his whereabouts, because a leader should serve and not to be served.
We are in a country where the government itself does not abide by the constitution, and other extant laws. This is because whenever a citizen speaks in line with the Freedom of Information Act or the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression, the government will consider that fellow as an enemy of progress or a threat to national security. If things continue like this, then I wonder how our future would look like.
Nigerian leaders should get it clear that, there’s no government on earth that will make progress without being criticised by the pressure groups, because to some extent they serve as the awakening factor. Unfortunately, here in Nigeria it seems to be quite different.
The way and manner things are happening in Nigeria point to the fact that our leaders, more especially the political leaders, don’t want pressure groups to exist anymore, simply because they enlighten citizens on how to hold their elected political leaders accountable.
It is now three years since the advocate of Good Governance, Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata, got missing, and ever since no one can tell or predict who are or is behind his disappearance.
Notwithstanding the fact that Dadiyata has his own personal issues, but he is an advocate of Good Governance par excellence. He has contributed a lot towards creating awareness among the Nigerian youths on different angles, and his contributions cannot be over-emphasised.
Though, I don’t know this young man in person, neither have I worked with him nor have any word with him either in the reality or on the social media spaces, I just heard about his commitments and contributions, nonetheless, his sacrifice and courage are worthy of emulation.
It could be recalled that Dadiyata is just an advocate or let me say activist, who devoted himself to that aspect, and he has no record of criminality. But surprisingly he went missing, and yet his whereabouts is untraceable.
The most baffling and unfortunate thing is that, the government didn’t take any serious action on his issue. In fact, it’s showing I don’t care about him as if he’s not a citizen of Nigeria. Initially, I thought government will go to any extent to look for him, but sadly enough they are busy doing otherwise.
If a resourceful man or a hard-working person like Dadiyata, a person with vast experience, can face such humiliation from government, then what about others that do not have the aforementioned? If the government does not take up the matter, who else would? Now, nobody has any idea on how his families are feeling, because it’s better to know that he’s dead than expecting the unknown date of his return.
Finally, I pray that if he’s still alive, may the Almighty God reveal his whereabouts, amin. But if he’s no more existing, may Allah forgive his shortcomings, amin.
Abubakar Muhammad Sani,
Kaduna
[email protected]
