Ex- Wife Accuses Bauchí Commissioner Of Abducting 10 Year Old Daughter 

From Paul Orude Bauchi

Iklima Manu Soro, the ex-wife of Bauchí State Commissioner for Water Resources, Honourable Nuhu Zaki, has accused him of abducting their 10 year old daughter Zaynab.

This was contained in a petition addressed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), alleging criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, obstruction of justice and disobedience to court order against the serving Commissioner.

She alleged that Zaki and unknown person disguised as police personnel and civil defence corps to carry out the alleged offence.

The petition, signed on her behalf by her lawyer, Mwansat M. Hirse, explained that the serving Commissioner and ex wife were involved in a dispute over the custody of Zainab

It explained the couple divorced when Zainab’s mother  was seven  months pregnant of her. Is

“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 petition read 

“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.

“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”

The embattled ex- wife appealed to  investigate the matter to ensure that the suspect does not escape the long hands of the law. 

Reacting to the petition , the commissioner described his ex-wife ‘s allegation as baseless and wondered how a father cwould kidnap his own legitimate daughter whom he has both religious and constitutional right over.

Zaki, in an interview with journalists in his house in Bauchi on Saturday, explained that his daughter, Zainab had lived with her grandmother following his divorce from her mother.

He said after Zainab’s mother remarried, his daughter longed to be with her father and her siblings and pleaded with him (Zaki) that she pleaded to come live with her father.

The commissioner narrated that he was married to her mother under the Islamic law of marriage but due to irreconcilable differences with the family, the marriage failed as they had to get divorced.

“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,” he said.

 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

Zaki, while narrating the situation, said that he got judgment 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 staying with her maternal grandmother, 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,” he said.

“I did not kidnap nor abduct her, I only enforced the various judgments 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.”