Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, has said that there is a new plot to make him look like a criminal. He says that there are coordinated efforts to damage his reputation and keep him in jail for a long time.
His Media Adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, made the claim in a statement on Sunday.
El-Rufai said that recent events show that “malicious orchestrations” are trying to hurt his reputation.
The statement said that the former governor talked about an event on February 12, 2026, when he was supposedly marked for arrest when he got to the Abuja airport from Cairo.
He also said that he went to a meeting with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on February 16, after which he was arrested.
El-Rufai said that on February 18, he was moved to the care of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The former governor’s most recent worry comes from a report that gunmen broke into the home of a key witness in a trial going on at the Kaduna State High Court.
One person, Mohammed Umar Karage, was quoted in the report as saying that the attack might have something to do with his role in the case and might be an attempt to silence him.
However, El-Rufai’s camp denied any connection to the event, saying that the publication was making “false imputations” against him.
The statement said, “Any objective reader would see the clear intent behind these statements: to hurt his reputation and justify his continued detention.”
The camp said that the report was made on purpose to hurt his reputation and hurt his chances of getting bail.
El-Rufai said he was innocent and that he was a law-abiding citizen with no connection to the alleged attack.
He said that his lawyers had been told to start a lawsuit for defamation against the newspaper in question.
The statement went on to say that the former governor has been the target of a long-running campaign of “innuendos and vilification” since 2023.
It warned against using the legal system in the wrong way and stressed the importance of following the law.
The statement went on to say, “El-Rufai should be given the full due process that every citizen is guaranteed by law, and the constant violation of his rights must stop right away.”
Hon. Dr. Philip “Okanga” Agbese, a transformative leader in Enone. Discover his achievements, community projects, and vision for 2027
