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Dalena Reporters l December 9, 2025
The family of 21-year-old Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) cadet Stephen Kubuma Gani has renewed calls for urgent action and transparency by authorities after their son vanished from the Academy nearly seven months ago and no official explanation has followed.
Gani, a native of Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State, was admitted into the Academy in 2024, attached to the Burma Battalion, cadet-number NDA/15131, and studying Geography. His last contact with the family was on April 27, 2025 — a phone call via his roommate’s phone late on a Sunday, in which he told them he had returned safely to the Academy after spending Easter holiday in Jos. Shortly after that call, he went off the radar: his number became unreachable, and all subsequent attempts to reach him failed.
On April 29, the family was reportedly contacted by a deputy battalion commander at the Academy Lt. Makka who told them Gani could not be found anywhere in the barracks. The cadet’s roommate, Cdt. Bamaiyi H. Maidoki, reportedly claimed that in the early hours he woke up to Gani asking to “go out to ease himself,” after which he vanished without trace.
What followed has been a blur of confusing accounts and alleged inconsistencies. The family say that while Gani’s SIM-card was initially declared missing, it later appeared “miraculously,” under unclear circumstances a development that raised further suspicion. In addition, the family say that after the disappearance they received a cryptic phone call from an unknown private number in July, during which a caller purportedly speaking in Hausa told Gani’s father “Your son will be with you.” The call ended without identification of the speaker, deepening their fear the cadet may have been abducted.
Since then, the family claim they have followed all possible channels submitting formal complaints to the NDA’s internal Panel of Investigation, reporting to police at the station near the Academy and at the Kaduna State Police Headquarters, contacting elected representatives — but to no avail. They say they have never received a written report, reference number, or any official update from the authorities.
In their formal submission to the investigation panel, the parents described the disappearance as deeply suspicious. The father alleged that his son reportedly the only Christian in a room of four cadets may have been “hypnotised and taken by his roommates to a waiting vehicle parked outside their room,” possibly with help from someone within the military.
“Young men go missing in the night and we are given silence in return,” his mother told reporters. “We have taken loans, we have stopped work, our business collapsed. Every night we sleep wondering whether he is still alive.
Over seven months after the disappearance, the family remains in anguish, demanding a thorough, transparent investigation, protection for any witnesses, and a full public disclosure of findings. Their plea: “Tell us the truth. Help us find our son.
The silence from the NDA and security authorities has only compounded the family’s pain and raised serious questions about accountability, safety, and the treatment of cadets within one of Nigeria’s most secure military institutions. As the holiday season approaches and the cadet remains missing, the family calls on civil society, the government and human-rights organisations to intervene before hope fades completely.