Nairobi, Kenya- Human rights advocate Hanifa Adan has revealed a terrifying incident in which she narrowly escaped an attempted abduction on the night of Saturday, July 26, in Nairobi.
Sharing her ordeal on social media the following day, Hanifa recounted how two unidentified men tried to force her into a car shortly after she had alighted from a bus.
According to Hanifa, one of the men had been seated beside her throughout the bus ride. Once they disembarked, the man began persistently urging her to accept a ride from his brother, who he claimed was waiting nearby with a car.
Despite her repeated refusals and her insistence that she had already called an Uber, the man would not relent.
“I alighted from a bus, and this guy I’d been seated next to kept insisting on taking me home. He said his brother was nearby with a car, and I should go with them,” Hanifa wrote.
“I told him I’d already ordered an Uber, but he wouldn’t let it go and kept pushing for a good few minutes as I kept saying no.”
The situation escalated when the man returned with another man—his alleged brother—and a car.
The pair became more forceful, both insisting that she get into the vehicle with them. At this point, Hanifa says she began to fear for her safety.
“I asked them straight up why I would go with two grown men I don’t know, at night? Why are you insisting so hard?” she added.
Sensing the danger, Hanifa threatened to raise the alarm by screaming, which finally caused the two men to flee the scene. Reflecting on the incident, she said she would now arm herself with pepper spray and other self-defense tools for protection.
“The first guy kept saying, ‘I’m your brother, I don’t trust Uber drivers.’ And I told them if they didn’t leave, I would scream. They got mad and finally left. I need to buy that pepper spray,” she stated.
This alarming encounter comes at a time when abductions targeting Kenyan activists are increasingly being reported, particularly in the aftermath of the anti-finance bill protests held in June 2024.
Just a few days before Hanifa’s incident, another human rights activist, Mwabili Mwagodi, was reported missing in Tanzania on Wednesday, July 23.
Mwagodi’s disappearance echoes similar past cases, including the reported abductions of Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, both of whom allegedly went missing under suspicious circumstances while in Tanzania earlier this year.
The recent spike in threats, abductions, and intimidation of activists in Kenya and the East African region is raising serious concerns about the safety and freedom of civil society leaders.
Hanifa’s narrow escape adds to the growing list of worrying incidents, underscoring the urgent need for stronger protections and accountability.
