The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has defended the detention and prosecution of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, insisting his custody is backed by court orders and not political vendetta. The commission also dismissed efforts by El-Rufai’s supporters to lobby the United States government over the matter.
El-Rufai’s supporters on Wednesday confirmed they had engaged a Washington-based advocacy firm, Vanguard Africa, to draw international attention to what they called “erosion of the rule of law and abuse of due process in Nigeria”.
Reacting to the development in an interview with _The Punch_ on Wednesday, ICPC spokesperson, Mr. Demola Bakare, said the commission was unmoved by the lobby move.
“We are not moved. We operate within the confines of the law. The ICPC is not moved at all,” Bakare said.
He stressed that El-Rufai’s detention was not the commission’s unilateral decision: “We operate within the confines of the law and will continue to carry out our functions within the confines of the law. We are not detaining him on our own. We are following lawful orders. He is in our custody by court remand. So, we have no issues with that. It’s a free world, it’s a free society, but people must operate within the confines of the law,” he added.
Bakare rejected allegations that the ICPC was being used to persecute political opponents. “The ICPC is not political. It has never been and will never be. The ICPC is an anti-corruption law enforcement agency. We have an Act that guides our operations,” he stated.
According to him, the commission prosecutes cases based solely on alleged infractions, regardless of status: “If there are infractions that fall within our Act and we charge you to court, it doesn’t matter whether you are a clerk in a government agency, a private contractor who has contravened the laws, or a political figure. It’s immaterial. We do not politicize our issues, nor do we prosecute on the basis of political affiliations. The ICPC is not a political party and does not have any political affiliations,” Bakare said.
El-Rufai, who governed Kaduna State from 2015 to 2023, is facing charges bordering on alleged corruption and abuse of office. The ICPC maintains that all actions taken so far are in line with subsisting court remand orders.