Tension flared in Abuja on Monday as members of the family of former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, alongside his political allies and supporters, staged a protest at the headquarters of the Department of State Services over what they described as his continued detention.
The protesters, which included family members, the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Lawal Adamu Usman, and other loyalists, accused security authorities of moving the former governor in violation of subsisting court directives that, according to them, placed him under the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The demonstration came amid rising concerns from the family over El-Rufai’s prolonged detention, which they said had lasted 91 days, and what they described as repeated denial of access to medical care and legal rights.
El-Rufai’s second wife, Asia, who addressed journalists outside the DSS facility, said the family was living in fear and under constant pressure from security surveillance and threats.
She said, “We now live in constant fear. Every day we get a threat — DSS, ICPC and police are coming to raid your house. You are being followed. Our phones are tapped.”
She narrated that earlier in the day, El-Rufai had appeared before Justice Joyce AbdulMalik of the Federal High Court, who granted bail and stood the matter down until 1 p.m.
According to her, during the court break, the former governor was briefly moved to a DSS facility — a move she said he resisted, insisting that existing Kaduna court orders required that he be remanded under ICPC custody.
“I remember him saying ‘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 that he is not a piece of furniture to be moved,” she recounted.
She questioned why he was again taken to the DSS instead of being returned to ICPC after the matter was fixed for continuation the next day
As of the time she spoke to journalists, she said El-Rufai had refused to exit the vehicle that brought him to the DSS facility.
Asia also alleged that the former governor had been denied access to his personal physicians despite a court order by Justice Aikawa of the Kaduna State High Court granting him unfettered access to lawyers and doctors.
According to her, medical arrangements made through the ICPC had broken down despite initial agreements.
“When a doctor runs tests, you are expected to go back so that he can explain what the problem is. He was denied access to the doctor because in their explanation, they said Malam was not aware that the doctor was coming.
“But Malam said nobody told him that,” she noted.
The family demanded El-Rufai’s immediate return to ICPC custody in line with existing court orders, restoration of access to his personal physicians, and an end to what they described as psychological harassment.
“We are calling for his immediate release. He deserves to be granted bail based on self-recognition. What is happening is psychological harassment because of politics,” Senator Lawal Adamu said.
Also speaking, El-Rufai’s son, Bello, a member of the House of Representatives, alleged that the bail conditions imposed were deliberately structured to be difficult to meet, describing the entire process as politically motivated.
“Who keeps a person for 91 days and why were the terms of the bail so stringent that it is practically impossible for anybody to meet? Why do you have to say that Kaduna State Council of Chiefs will have to give an attestation and 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?” he quizzed.
Director General of the El-Rufai Support Group Association, Dr Uche Dialla, also weighed in, describing the situation as a case of psychological torture and citing international human rights standards.
He said, “Torture is not just physical torture. When you take a man psychologically, he is in the custody of ICPC, goes to court, and immediately moves to another environment— that is psychological torture.
His bag and toothbrush are with ICPC. El-Rufai is not there by choice. He was confined there by the orders of a court. Anything other than taking him back there would be deliberately torturing him.”
Efforts to get the reaction of DSS Spokesperson, Favour Dozie, were unsuccessful. She could also not be reached as of the time of filing this story.