Since she began criticising the Sokoto State Government in November 2024, 18-year-old Hamdiyya Sidi Sharif has faced pushback and repression and suffered arrests and abductions
In a now-deleted TikTok video posted by the teenager in November, she urged internally displaced Persons (IDPs) in Sokoto to march to the office of the governor in protest.
The state government did not take this lightly and accused her of using “insulting or abusive language” and “inciting disturbance.”
She was also whisked into a tricycle and arrested by armed men on November 13 on her way to collect her phone from a charging point. Sharif was beaten and thrown off a moving tricycle. She sustained injuries from the attack.
The Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, described the attack on the 18-year-old as an abuse of power and an attempt to intimidate people who speak out for society.
“These actions represent an alarming abuse of power and a calculated attempt to intimidate and punish those who speak out for their society and lawyers defending them. The hostilities being faced by Hamdiyya Sidi Sharif and Barrister Abba Hikima are increasingly making their appearance in court in Sokoto dangerous.”
Following this arrest, she tendered an apology to the state government and retracted her statement charging IDPs to protest at the governor’s office.
She was initially charged in court in February, but her trial was adjourned to March 13 and 14, 2025, by Chief Magistrate Umar. It was adjourned yet again to May 21.
A day before her court appearance, her lawyer revealed she was missing.
In a Facebook post, the lawyer noted that Shariff left her home to buy foodstuff but never returned home.
“She went out to buy foodstuffs in Sokoto and has not been seen since. The Sokoto State Police has already been informed,” the lawyer’s post read.
She was found in a critical condition a day later. Her lawyer took to Facebook to share the news of her discovery.
“We have been informed that Hamdiyya is in the Bakura General Hospital in Zamfara State,” he wrote.
Following her discovery, The Guardian reported that she was rescued by security forces during a bush combing patrol along the Lambar Bakura–Yar Geda Highway in Bakura Local Government Area in Zamfara State
On Friday, Amnesty International revealed that the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police had her in his custody.
“Amnesty International received disturbing reports that the Commissioner of Police Zamfara state has held Hamdiyya Sidi Sharif in custody, despite the need to give her the urgent medical treatment after her abduction. Sokoto police are insisting Hamdiyya must be handed to them,” the CSO wrote in a post.
The Guardian contacted the Sokoto Police spokesperson, Rufai Ahmad, if he was aware she was being held by the Zamfara Commissioner of Police, but he responded negatively.
“How can Sokoto Police confirm a Zamfara incident for you?” he asked.
The Guardian also called the Zamfara Police spokesperson, Yazid Abubakar, on Saturday morning, but he said he was driving.
“I am driving. I will give you a call later.”
When our correspondent called him later that morning, he said she was not in the custody of the police and they had a press briefing with her the previous day.
“We are not holding her. We had a press briefing with her yesterday. I don’t know how the press briefing did not circulate. I want you to hear her confession from her own mouth,” he said.
Many government critics have suffered the same fate in Nigeria. One such critic is Idris Abubakar, popularly known as Dadiyata. He disappeared in August 2019 and has not been found till date.
