Since she began criticising the Sokoto State Government in November 2024, 18-year-old Hamdiyya Sidi Sharif has faced pushback, repression, and has suffered arrests and abductions.

In a now-deleted TikTok video posted that month, the teenager urged internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sokoto to march to the governor’s office in protest.

The state government did not take this lightly and accused her of using “insulting or abusive language” and “inciting disturbance.”

On November 13, Sharif was arrested by armed men while on her way to collect her phone from a charging point. She was reportedly whisked into a tricycle, beaten, and thrown from the moving vehicle, sustaining injuries from the attack.

The Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, described the incident as an abuse of power and an attempt to intimidate those who speak out.

“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 her arrest, Sharif issued an apology to the state government and retracted her call for IDPs to protest at the governor’s office.

She was initially charged to court in February, but her trial was adjourned by Chief Magistrate Umar to March 13 and 14, 2025, and later postponed again to May 21.

A day before her court appearance, her lawyer revealed she was missing.

In a Facebook post, the lawyer stated that Sharif had left home to buy foodstuffs but never returned.

“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 critical condition the following day. Her lawyer later announced the discovery via Facebook.

“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 of Zamfara State.

On Friday, Amnesty International revealed that the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police had taken her into 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 organisation wrote in a post.

The Guardian contacted the Sokoto Police spokesperson, Rufai Ahmad, to confirm if he was aware she was being held by the Zamfara Commissioner of Police. He responded negatively.

“How can Sokoto Police confirm a Zamfara incident for you?” he asked.

The newspaper also reached out to 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 contacted again later that morning, Abubakar denied that she was in police custody and claimed a press briefing had already been held with her.

“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 in Nigeria have suffered similar fates. One such case is Idris Abubakar, popularly known as Dadiyata, who disappeared in August 2019 and has not been found to this day.

“Sokoto state Governor Mr. Ahmed Aliyu’s frightening intolerance of dissenting voices through heavy handed clampdown on critics is unacceptable in a free society,” Amnesty said of Sharif’s prosecution. “No one should be punished solely for expressing an opinion that is contrary to that of government.”