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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) of denying former Kaduna State governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, access to medical care.
The ADC also accused the ICPC of arresting El-Rufai’s personal physician and assaulting his wife, saying the country was sliding into tyranny under the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The opposition party, in a statement, by its National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi, yesterday, stated that no democratic government that claims to respect the rule of law should deny a detainee access to medicare and access to family members, in violation of court orders.
“Information reaching us said El-Rufai was billed for treatment at the National Hospital in Abuja today. But against the hospital’s advice that he would require hospitalisation in view of his failing health, officials of the ICPC insisted on returning him into custody.
“Protests by his personal physician and his wife led to scuffles during which his wife was assaulted and the doctor subsequently arrested. The actions of the ICPC and the Tinubu government have for months now gone beyond the realm of law enforcement.
“Their actions have become an assault on the Constitution of 200 million Nigerians, on human dignity, and on the most basic principles of justice and human rights.
“The world should know today that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is holding a political prisoner in Nigeria by the name of Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai.
“No democratic government that claims to respect the rule of law should deny a detainee access to medical care or prevent close family members from seeing him in flagrant disobedience of the courts, which granted him unfettered access to his lawyers, physician and family members.
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“Such conduct belongs to authoritarian regimes that use state institutions to break political opponents rather than to uphold justice.
“This is no longer about Mallam El-Rufai alone. It is about whether Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy or has descended into a republic where law enforcement agencies have become instruments of political persecution.”
The party added that the ICPC owes Nigerians explanations on whose authority the former Kaduna State governor was denied access to his family, as well as why he has allegedly been denied access to his doctor.
It accused President Tinubu of allegedly criminalising political opposition instead of confronting the grave crises of insecurity, unemployment, inflation, and hunger confronting millions of Nigerians.
The party demanded “immediate and unrestricted access for Mallam El-Rufai to his wife, children, legal team, and personal medical practitioners” as well as an urgent review of his bail conditions.
It also demanded “an immediate end to the harsh, degrading and unnecessarily restrictive conditions under which he is being held and supervised, and his release from what has become a regime of political persecution masquerading as lawful process.
“Full compliance with all constitutional guarantees and internationally recognised standards governing the treatment of persons in custody.
“ Complete transparency from the ICPC regarding the legal and factual basis for every restriction imposed on him.
“An immediate end to the use of state institutions as instruments of political intimidation, vendetta and selective justice.”
