I didn’t abduct Zainab, she’s my biological daughter — Bauchi Commissioner

Bauchi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki, has described the petition of child abduction against him by one 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 explained that he was married to her mother under Islamic law, but due to irreconcilable differences with the family, the marriage ended in divorce.

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, made it impossible, forcing her to leave the house.”

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The Commissioner commended the late father of the woman, Manu Soro, the uncle, Musa, and others who played roles in trying to make the marriage work. They even attempted to remarry the couple after the first divorce, but the three individuals opposed the arrangement.

Nuhu Zaki, while recounting the situation, stated that he received favorable judgments from three different courts, yet he was still denied access to the girl, even after the mother remarried.

“Now that she is married to someone else, and my daughter, Zainab Nuhu Zaki, is no longer comfortable in that house, she chose to stay with me and her siblings. What is wrong with that? Now they are running around 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 no reason.