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By Goli Innocent
Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that he was nearly abducted and taken to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
In an interview with BBC Hausa, which aired on Thursday night, El-Rufai rejected claims that he resisted lawful detention.
“I don’t think it is accurate to say that they tried to detain me. They met me as I was coming out of the plane and said that they are from the DSS and they would like to have a meeting with me in their office.”
He said he immediately requested formal documentation.
“And I said, excellent, where is your letter of invitation? And the young man said, we’ll give you the letter when we go out of the airport.”
According to him, the situation escalated as more operatives appeared.
“So we started walking towards the immigration counter, and then more people appeared. Apparently, they had come in full force.”
He added, “They had about 50 operatives, and subsequently, we learned that it was the ICPC that procured the DSS to do the abduction. I was supposed to be abducted by the DSS and then taken to ICPC. This we found out after the fact.”
El-Rufai said the operatives demanded his passport before immigration processing.
“But anyway, so we walked towards the immigration counter, and they said I should give them my passport. I said no, I always do my immigration. You have to have my biometrics.”
He maintained that senior officers later approached him again.
“So I went, I did that, and I walked out. And two more senior people came and said they are from the DSS and they wanted me to go to their office. I didn’t know whether they had an office at the airport or they meant their headquarters, but all I asked is the courtesy of a letter of invitation.”
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He insisted he was entitled to due process.
“This is what I believe I’m entitled to as a Nigerian. They didn’t have a letter. They wanted me to just go with them.”
At that point, he said, the encounter became more forceful.
“At some point, one of them said, you have to come with us. I said, Mr Man, I don’t know who the hell you are, but even the president cannot tell me I have to do anything in this country. We are a democracy.
“I do what I bloody want. If you want me to honour your invitation, let me have a letter.”
El-Rufai said by then, other passengers and associates had intervened.
“Of course, by then, many people had some of the passengers that came with me, and some of the people that came to meet me had come into the picture, and they were actually the ones that jointly and severally overpowered the DSS and ensured that I got into my car and came home.”
“So that’s what happened in brief.”
Responding to questions about why he had earlier expressed fears of possible arrest, he said:
“I’m afraid of tyranny. I’m afraid of undemocratic practices. I’m afraid of people who don’t understand that in a democracy, the executive is not all in all.
“There is a legislature that should be allowed to function, which has not been allowed to function. And there’s a judiciary that is supposed to be independent, which is being procured and weaponised against the opposition.”
As of the time of filing this report, neither the ICPC nor the DSS has issued an official response to the allegations.
