A family has accused a personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS), identified as Ifeanyi Festus, of abducting and defiling a minor whose name has been withheld.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a petition dated January 4 and submitted to the DSS headquarters in Abuja, the family, through their lawyers at Gamji Lawchain, said their daughter went missing in November 2023 in Hadejia, Jigawa State, when she was 16 years old.
According to the petition, all efforts to locate the girl at the time proved unsuccessful, plunging the family into prolonged distress.
The family further alleged that the disappearance of the girl led to the death of her mother, who reportedly suffered severe psychological trauma following the incident.
“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 major development occurred on January 1, 2026, when the girl’s father, Abdulhadi Ibrahim, reportedly received a phone call from a man who identified himself as Festus, a DSS officer.
During the call, Festus allegedly informed Ibrahim that his daughter was with him and had given birth, adding that he was “ready to marry her” and asked the father to come to Abuja for discussions.
As the father could not travel immediately, he sent a representative, Muhammad Badamasi Ibrahim, to Abuja to inquire about the girl’s whereabouts.
According to the petition, the representative was taken to a DSS facility in Karmajiji, Abuja, known as “VCG Estate”, where it was allegedly confirmed that the girl had been living within the DSS estate and cohabiting with the officer throughout the period of her disappearance.
“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 stated.
The family further alleged that when the representative demanded the girl’s release, access to her was denied.
“She was denied access, effectively held under institutional protection, beyond the reach of her own father,” the petition added.
The petition also accused the DSS officer of forced religious conversion, alleging that the girl was converted from Islam to Christianity without parental consent.
“She was subjected to sexual exploitation by a superior adult armed with state authority, resulting in pregnancy and childbirth,” the petition said.
It further alleged that the girl delivered her baby through Caesarean section at a DSS hospital within the VCG Estate in Karmajiji.
The petition was also forwarded to the Inspector-General of Police and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Speaking to TheCable, Hussaini Sani, the lawyer who signed the petition, confirmed that a family member of the girl wrote a statement at the DSS office in Abuja on Thursday.
Sani added that the girl’s father is expected to travel from Jigawa State to Abuja on Monday to meet with DSS officials.
