The family members of Nasir el-Rufai on Monday accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of violating subsisting court orders in the detention of the former Kaduna governor.
The family protested outside the DSS headquarters in Abuja
after el-Rufai was allegedly taken into DSS custody.
Asia el-Rufai, the second wife of the former governor, said
the development had subjected the family to fear, threats, and psychological
distress.
“We now live in constant fear. Every day we get a threat —
DSS is coming to raid your house, ICPC is coming to raid your house, police are
coming to raid your house. You are being followed. Our phones are tapped,” she
said.
Asia said el-Rufai had earlier appeared before Joyce
AbdulMalik, a judge of the federal high court, who granted him bail and stood
the matter down until 1pm.
She said during the break, the former governor was briefly
taken to the DSS facility despite two court orders directing that he should
remain in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
According to her, el-Rufai resisted the move and questioned
why he was being transferred to the DSS facility.
“He said to them, ‘I am not going to step down because there
are two court orders that the Kaduna court gave that I should be remanded in
ICPC. Why are you bringing me here? He said, I am not furniture to be moved,”
she said.
Asia said el-Rufai was later returned to the ICPC, but was
again brought to the DSS after the afternoon court session.
She said the former governor refused to leave the vehicle
conveying him to the facility.
“He told them that if you want to take me inside DSS
custody, you will have to physically force me into doing this, because you had
an agreement,” she said.
She said the judge had directed the DSS and ICPC to decide
which agency would keep the former governor in custody pending proceedings.
“When Justice AbdulMalik said I should go to DSS in the
first instance, we told her that there are subsisting orders,” she said.
“And she said, let DSS and ICPC go and decide who will keep
him, and you people decided they are keeping him with ICPC. What has changed?”
Asia also alleged that el-Rufai, who she said had spent 91
days in custody, had been denied access to his personal doctors despite a
Kaduna high court order granting him unrestricted access to lawyers and
physicians.
She said the ICPC’s in-house doctor had recommended medical
tests for the former governor and agreed that his doctors would later discuss
the results with him.
According to her, the arrangement was later disregarded.
“When you see a doctor and you run tests, you are expected
to see the doctor back so that he explains what the problem is,” she said.
“He was denied access to the doctor because in their own
explanation, they said Malam was not aware that the doctor was coming. I asked
Malam — Malam said nobody told him.”
The family demanded el-Rufai’s immediate return to ICPC
custody in line with existing court orders, the restoration of access to his
doctors, and an end to what they described as psychological torment.
Bello el-Rufai, a member of the house of representatives,
and son of the former governor, described the matter as politically motivated.
He questioned the bail conditions imposed on his father and
argued that they were “deliberately impossible” to meet.
“Who keeps a person for 91 days? Why were the terms of the
bail so stringent that it is practically impossible for anybody to meet?” he
queried.
“Why do you have to say that the Kaduna State Council of
Chiefs will have to give an attestation? Why are we saying that it has to be a
government staff of level 17, with a house in Asokoro or Maitama?
“Which civil servant has N100 million? What are we trying to
do — are we trying to make people come out so that they can be targeted too?”
Bello also accused the ICPC of issuing false statements and
said he intended to submit a formal petition to the house of representatives
over the matter.
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