Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has alleged that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) asked officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him upon arrival to the country.
On Thursday, there was a mild drama at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja, when security operatives attempted to arrest
el-Rufai when he returned to the country from Cairo, the capital of Egypt.
Muyiwa Adekeye, media aide to the former governor, alleged
that operatives approached el-Rufai shortly after he disembarked from his
flight but he declined to accompany them in the absence of a formal invitation.
Speaking in an interview with BBC published on Friday, the
former Kaduna governor said when he disembarked from the plane, some DSS
operatives approached him that he should come for a meeting at their office.
El-Rufai said he asked the DSS operatives for a letter of
interview and they informed him they will show him when they come out of the
airport.
The former governor claimed that about 50 security
operatives were at the airport because of him.
“We walked towards the immigration counter and they (DSS
operatives) said I should give them my passport for them to go and do…. I said,
‘no, I always do my immigration biometrics’. I went there, did that and walked
out,” he said.
“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 have an
office at the airport or they meant the headquarters.
“All I asked for is a courtesy of a letter of invitation.
That is what I believe I am entitled to as a Nigerian. They did not have a
letter.
“Subsequently, we learnt that it was ICPC that procured the
DSS to do the abduction. I was supposed to be abducted by the DSS and taken to
ICPC.”
Asked to react to the comment of certain persons who are
asking why he is afraid of arrest, el-Rufai said he is afraid of tyranny and
undemocratic practices.
“I’m afraid of tyranny, undemocratic practices and people
that don’t understand that in a democracy, the executive is not all-in-all,”
the former governor said.
“There is a legislature that should be allowed to function,
which has not been allowed to function. There is a judiciary that is supposed
to be independent, which is being procured and weaponised against the
opposition.”
Before the Abuja airport incident, el-Rufai had alleged that
he could face a politically motivated arrest upon his return to Nigeria.
Two associates — Jimi Lawal and Amadu Sule of el-Rufai are
currently facing charges pertaining to alleged fraud and money laundering
preferred by the ICPC.
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