Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has said President Bola Tinubu would be held responsible should anything happen to Nasir El-Rufai, former Kaduna governor.
The ex-minister also alleged that El-Rufai is being kept in custody to prevent him from participating in the 2027 election — in a bid to weaken the ADC.
El-Rufai is standing trial on a five-count amended charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations that he unlawfully intercepted telephone conversations linked to Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA).
The former Kaduna governor is also being tried by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on a nine-count charge, with his bail application dismissed in early July.
El-Rufai’s wives have appealed to Tinubu to wade in and secure the release of their husband.
Speaking in an interview on Symfoni, Abdullahi said the continued detention of El-Rufai has everything to do with politics.
“Well, we don’t know what went wrong, but what is clear is that this is not about law, it’s not about crime and punishment, it’s politics,” he said.
“Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is not being held today because he committed any crime, because that would have been left for the court to decide. Let the court pronounce that he’s guilty or he’s not guilty.
“But to continue to hold him interminably speaks to something else, and that is why it is clear to us that the desire or the intention of this APC government is to continue to hold Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to ensure that he does not participate in this election and he does not strengthen the opposition. That is exactly what they plan to do.”
Abdullahi also said El-Rufai played a key role in mobilising support for Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election, particularly in northern Nigeria, despite efforts by some politicians to push for a different candidate.
“When some people in the north were saying they must contest in the election of 2023, it was Mallam Nasir El-Rufai that mobilised the entire north behind President Bola Tinubu, along with other people,” he said.
“And I’ve seen videos where President Bola Tinubu himself was appealing to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai not to leave the country because the government would need him.
“Then what happened? Some of these things beggar belief and make you begin to wonder whether it’s true what people say, that there are marabouts who are determining these things, who say, oh, maybe this person’s star would outshine your own if you allow him to come here. We hear these things, right?”
Abdullahi said El-Rufai’s health is failing.
“I’ll repeat it here. If, God forbid, anything happens to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, President Bola Tinubu should realise, even if he didn’t intend it, that he would be held personally responsible and the consequences cannot even be imagined,” he added.
“So, it’s either he releases Mallam El-Rufai on bail and allow him to face justice or he continues to hold him until the end of his tenure.
“We would come into government. We would investigate what happened and due blames will be apportioned”.
