El-Rufai Acted With Recklessness and Brutality, Cannot Complain About Due Process’ – Odinkalu

According to Chidi Odinkalu, the former head of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, cannot complain about due process because of the treatment he provided to the people under his administration.

El-Rufai’s current custody was affirmed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) on Thursday, according to reports.

Remember that El-Rufai was detained by Department of State Services (DSS) agents just after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) freed him on bond on Wednesday.

Later, the ICPC was given him.

In a Channels Television interview, Odinkalu urged El-Rufai to take responsibility for his acts while in office.

The human rights advocate claims that during his tenure in power, El-Rufai handled people with remarkable boldness, violence, and impunity.

“I’ll begin with the fundamental tenet that they should all be treated equally under the law and that every citizen is entitled to due process,” he added.

“That implies that if someone has done something that calls for legal accountability, as I believe he [El-Rufai] has, then no one should be given impunity just because they are who they are, because they fall within the political divide or national profile. To be clear, he ought to be subject to due process.

And now that I have clarified that, I have one more thing to say: what I have said goes much beyond what Nasir El-Rufai gave to people he viewed as his detractors while he was Kana State’s governor. He was extremely careless, nasty, and free to treat others as he pleased.

Some of his victims are deceased, such as the late Dr. Rafael Galadima, who was kidnapped along with his wife and ransomed, I assume, a day before he was killed in 2019, three months after Dadiyata vanished from his undiscovered Kaduna house. This year’s August 2nd will mark the precise seventh anniversary of Dadiyata’s disappearance.

In several towns, he turned them from kingdoms to Emirates at his whim, essentially displacing non-Muslims—mostly Christians—from their communities and denying them the ability to assume leadership roles.

He took away the lands of some people. His political rivals had the state expropriate or destroy their homes. I don’t believe Nasir El-Rufai is the only one who can openly criticize due process.

With all due respect, as governor of Kaduna State, he was abhorrent. And what is his issue, by the way? Given that he and President Tinubu belonged to the same party, he was the one who ran the most aggressive campaign to overthrow the current state.

Among other places, he accompanied President Tinubu on a trip to Chatham House in 2023. One of the main proponents of the dispensation was him. Who is pursuing him?