The ex-wife of Bauchi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Iklima Manu Adamu Soro, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) over what she alleges to be criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, and blatant disobedience to a court order.
Iklima Manu Soro wrote the petition against her ex-husband and the father of her first child, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki, joining an unknown person disguised as officers of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
The petition was written on her behalf by the legal office of Chris Umar SAN & Co., based in Abuja, signed by Mwansat M. Hirse, and dated January 22, 2025, a copy of which was made available to journalists in Bauchi on Friday.
The petition 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.”
According to the letter, “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 a 7-month fetus.”
The letter further states, “The suspect abandoned the responsibility of his daughter prior to birth until she was 9 years old and decided to forcefully take over her custody against the wishes of the child’s mother and her family, and without recourse to any judicial process.”
It continues, “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 case is now before the Sharia Court of Appeal, while the State High Court has barred the police from involvement in what the court referred to as a matrimonial issue. The said order, dated August 12, 2024, is hereby attached for your reference.”
“In blatant disobedience to extant laws of the land, the suspect invaded the privacy of the family of the late Alh. Manu Soro, father of serving member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Darazo-Ganjuwa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, Rep. Mansur Manu Soro, on the evening of December 2, 2024, with ‘Sara Suka’ thugs with the mission to forcefully make 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 further reads.
According to the legal practitioner, “If not for the efforts 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 invaded the house and laid mayhem under whatever guise, which might have resulted in the loss of lives or injury.”
It adds, “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 the status quo pending the outcome of the case before the Sharia Court of Appeal and a thorough investigation into the matter by the Zone.”
The letter also states, “To our client’s shock, the suspect, on the morning of January 21, 2025, conspired to and actually kidnapped Zainab (our client’s daughter, whose custody is the subject matter of litigation before the Sharia Court of Appeal, Bauchi) on her way to school in her school bus.”
It explains, “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 the court without justification.”
The legal office added that, “Sir, the suspect is notorious for his unguarded utterances and threats; in fact, he boasts 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.”
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The legal practitioners are therefore appealing, “Most respectfully, we urge you to use your good office and cause this matter to be investigated discreetly and ensure that the suspect does not escape the long arm of the law.”
“We further urge you, in line with the inherent powers of the Force, to proffer charges against him so as to serve as a deterrent to others. Please accept, as always, the assurance of our highest esteem and regards to your office while looking forward to the expeditious consideration of this complaint,” it concluded.
In swift reaction to the development, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki, described the petition of child abduction against him by Iklima Manu Soro as baseless, unfounded, and very unfortunate.
Reacting to the petition submitted to the Office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Nuhu Zaki declared, “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 Islamic law but, due to irreconcilable differences with the family, the marriage failed, and 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 favor 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,” he added.
According to him, “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.”
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.
