- Commissioners says” “I did not abduct Zainab…She’s my biological daughter…I only enforced court judgements”
By Yemi Shola, Bauchi
Ex-wife of Bauchi State Commissioner of Water Resources, Iklima Manu Adamu Soro, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbtokun, over alleged criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, obstruction of course of justice, and blatant disobedience to court order levelled against the Commissioner.
Iklima Manu Soro wrote the petition against her ex-husband and father of her first child, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki, joining an unknown persons described as officers of Nigeria Police and Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
The petition, written on her behalf by the Legal Office of Chris Umar SAN and Co based in Abuja signed by Mwansat M. Hirse and dated 22nd January, 2025 which was released to journalists in Bauchi on Friday reads: “We are solicitors to IKLIMA MANU ADAMU SORO whose address is care of G.R.A, Bauchi, Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi State (Hereinafter referred to as Our Client) in whose express instruction this letter of complaint is written to your good office.
“The genesis of the matter that gave rise to the instant complaint is a dispute over the custody of a child between Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki (the suspect) and our client whom the former divorced when the baby was 7 months fetus.
“The suspect abandoned the responsibility of his daughter prior to birth until she was 9 years and decided to forcefully take over her custody against the wishes of the child mother and her family and without recourse to any judicial process.
“The dispute has since been subjected to court litigation after the suspect refused to heed the entreaties of his boss, the Governor of Bauchi State on the matter. The matter is now before the Sharia Court of Appeal while the State High Court has barred the Police from involvement in what the court referred as matrimonial issue. The said order dated the 12th day of August, 2024 is hereby attached for your reference.
“In a blatant disobedience to extant laws of the land, the suspect invaded the privacy of family of late Alh. Manu Soro, father to serving member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Darazo-Ganjuwa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, Rep. Mansur Manu Soro on the evening of 2nd December 2024 with “Sara Suka” thugs with the mission to forcefully made his way into the house to carry his daughter, Zainab even when the matter is subsisting before the court, disrupting the peace of the general neighborhood.”
The petition by the legal practitioner added: “If not for the effort of one Sani Yakubu, a responsible Police Officer, who acted in line with the provision of section 4 of the Police Act 2020 (as amended) to stop the suspect and his thugs, the suspect would have forcefully invade the house and lay mayhem under whatever guise which might result into loss of lives or injury.
“The suspect was thereafter petitioned to the Assistant Inspector General, Zone 12 Command, where the case is still pending. Meanwhile, at the Zone 12 Command, the parties were both asked to maintain status quo pending the outcome of the case before Sharia Court of Appeal and thorough investigation into the matter by the Zone.
“To our client’s shock, the suspect has in the morning of 21st day of January, 2025 conspired to and actually did kidnap Zainab (our client daughter, whose custody is the subject matter of litigation before the Sharia Court of Appeal, Bauchi) on her way to school in her school’s bus.
“The suspect in a commando style, with the help of two unknown persons, wearing the uniforms of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps abducted Zainab against the valid and subsisting order of court without justification.
“Sir, the suspect is notorious for his unguarded utterances and threats; in fact, he boosts that he is above the law and has all state agencies in his pocket. Therefore, our client, being a law abiding citizen, forwards this complaint to your office for investigation.”
The legal practitioners are therefore appealing”most respectfully” to the IGP, urging him “to use your good office and cause this matter to be investigated discreetly and to ensure that the suspect does not escape the long hands of the law.
“We further urge you to, in line with the inherent powers of the Force proffer charges against him so as to serve as a deterrent to others. Please, accept as always, the assurance of our highest esteem regards to your office while looking forward to seeing the expeditious consideration of this complaint.”
But in swift reaction to the development, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki told journalists in his residence in Bauchi on Saturday, that the petition of child abduction against him by one Iklima Manu Soro is baseless, unfounded and very unfortunate.
Nuhu Zaki: “How can I abduct my own biological daughter? Zainab Nuhu Zaki is my biological daughter and I have every right over her both religiously and constitutionally.”
He narrated that he was married to her mother under the Islamic law of marriage but due to irreconcilable reasons with the family, the marriage failed as they had to get divorced.
According to him: “It was not my intention to divorce my wife because we loved each other but pressure from her family especially her two brothers and their mother did not make it work, forcing her to leave the house.”
The Commissioner commended the late father of the woman, Manu Soro, the Uncle Musa and others who played roles to ensure that the marriage worked and even tried to remarry them after the first divorce but the three people stood against the arrangement.
Nuhu Zaki while narrating the situation, said that he got judgments in his favour from three different courts, yet he was denied access to the girl even after the mother had remarried.
“Now that she is married to another person and my daughter, Zainab Nuhu Zaki is no longer comfortable in the house. She chose to stay with me and her siblings. What is wrong with that? Now they are running up and down for no just cause.
“I did not kidnap nor abduct her. I only enforced the various judgements of the Courts and the Shariah Commission. Zainab Nuhu Zaki is my daughter and I have claimed her. She is now in a boarding school with three of my other daughters and nothing can change that.”
The Commissioner assured that he is ready to do anything legal and Islamic to protect any of his children no matter who is involved, urging the family to stop chasing shadows for nothing.
