Several questions remain unanswered even after Wajir Member of County Assembly (MCA) Yussuf Hussein Ahmed, who went missing on September 13 last year, was finally released by his captors on Saturday evening in unclear circumstances.

Though the identity and motive of the abductors are yet to be revealed, reports indicate that the MCA was under investigation after he was suspected to be involved in transnational organised crime, especially along the Nairobi-Moyale route.

The Dela Ward MCA reunited with his family at their home in Eastleigh Nairobi, according to Wajir County Governor Ahmed Abdullahi and Woman Rep Fatuma Jehow.

“This is a huge wave of relief, a tidal wave of joy. I can almost feel the collective sigh of relief from every Wajirian, especially our beloved people of Eldas, who have carried this burden with us,” she wrote on Facebook.

Song and dance

Ahmed was abducted from a taxi by people believed to be security officers on September 13, 2024, along Enterprise Road in Nairobi’s Industrial Area.

The taxi driver, Kioko Wambua from South C, said the abductors were armed with AK 47 rifles.

The MCA had not talked about his ordeal in the hands of the captors but Governor Abdullahi said he was safe and sound and that he had been taken to hospital for checks.

News of Yussuf’s return on Saturday evening sparked celebrations in several locations, especially in Eastleigh. A group of residents gathered at the 12th Street roundabout near Equity Bank as they sang and danced.

Curiously, for 177 days, the MCA was held at a location within the country which the security and investigative agencies could not locate. Questions have also been raised on who had the capacity and resources to detain him, undetected, for six months.

Just four days prior to his disappearance, he had complied with summons from security agencies in Wajir.

Though investigations cleared him, the MCA had also been suspected to have some information about the criminals who abducted two South Korean nationals on the night of August 12 around 9pm at their residence within Odda Mission Secondary School.

Three days after the abduction, the then acting Inspector General Gilbert Masengeli and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohammed Amin held a security meeting in Moyale.

A search and rescue operation by a multi-agency team led to the arrest of eight suspects, among them 6 Ethiopians.

The three cartridges that were recovered from the scene were taken to the DCI Forensic Lab for ballistic examination.

Body retrieved

A month after the MCA’s disappearance, a body was retrieved in Lake Yahud which was believed to be his but two independent DNA tests later determined that the body was not Ahmed’s.

The family pathologist Dr Daniel Zuriel said the analysis was done in the government facility at KEMRI.

Following a surge in abductions late last year, Kenyans pointed fingers at the State, given the manner in which they were conducted and the people targeted.

Investigations have revealed that Kenyans are abducted for various reasons.

The extralegal measures are frequently used as a strategy to spread terror within the society especially to those perceived to be government critics and their family members.

The abductions have also targeted suspects who have had several run-ins with the law especially in cases involving robberies and poaching.

Despite the fact that most of the victims are abducted in broad daylight, none of these cases has been successfully investigated.