Ifeanyi Festus, a personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS), has been accused of abducting and defiling a minor (name withheld).
In a petition dated January 4 and submitted at the DSS headquarters, the family of the girl, through their lawyers at Gamji Lawchain, said their daughter went missing in November 2023 in Hadejia, Jigawa state.
The family stated in the petition that efforts to find their daughter, who was 16 years old at the time, were futile.
The incident led to the death of the girl’s mother who was said to have suffered psychological trauma due to the disappearance of her daughter.
“From the moment she disappeared, her parents, Alhaji Abdulhadi Ibrahim and his wife were thrown into a living nightmare. They searched relentlessly, moving from place to place, from hope to despair,” the petition reads.
“The anxiety, fear, and emotional devastation of losing their underage daughter slowly destroyed the mother, who eventually died as a direct consequence of the psychological trauma, worry, and sustained pressure occasioned by this disappearance.
“A mother is dead today because her child was taken and hidden from her.”
A twist occurred on January 1, 2026, when the father of the girl, Abdulhadi Ibrahim received a phone call from one Festus, who identified himself as a DSS officer.
During the phone conversation, Festus was said to have informed Ibrahim that his daughter is currently with him and has given birth.
Festus asked the girl’s father to “come to Abuja for discussions”, stating that he is “ready to marry her”.
Since the father could not make it to Abuja, he asked a representative Muhammad Badamasi Ibrahim to enquire about the whereabouts of his daughter in Abuja.
The representative claimed that the girl was allegedly living with Festus at a DSS facility in Karmajiji, Abuja.
“Shockingly, the representative was taken to a DSS facility at Karmajiji, coded ‘VCG Estate’, where it was revealed that she (name withheld) had been living within the DSS Estate, cohabiting with the said officer throughout her period of disappearance,” the petition added.
“When the representative demanded that the girl be released to return to her family, this was bluntly refused. She was denied access, effectively held under institutional protection, beyond the reach of her own father.
“Worse still, during this period of unlawful custody, she was converted from Islam to Christianity without parental consent, amounting to forced religious conversion.
“She was subjected to sexual exploitation by a superior adult armed with state authority, resulting in pregnancy and childbirth.
“The childbirth came with complications as she delivered through Caesarian section at the DSS hospital in the said VCG Estate, Karmajiji.”
The petition was also sent to the inspector-general of police and Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Hussaini Sani, the lawyer who signed the petition, told newsmen that a family member of the girl wrote a statement at the DSS office in Abuja on Thursday.
Sani said the girl’s father would be making the trip from Jigawa to Abuja, to meet with the DSS, on Monday.
