Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has alleged that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) asked officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him upon arrival to the country.
On Thursday, there was a mild drama at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, when security operatives attempted to arrest el-Rufai when he returned to the country from Cairo, the capital of Egypt.
Muyiwa Adekeye, media aide to the former governor, alleged that operatives approached el-Rufai shortly after he disembarked from his flight but he declined to accompany them in the absence of a formal invitation.
Speaking in an interview with BBC published on Friday, the former Kaduna governor said when he disembarked from the plane, some DSS operatives approached him that he should come for a meeting at their office.
El-Rufai said he asked the DSS operatives for a letter of interview and they informed him they will show him when they come out of the airport.
The former governor claimed that about 50 security operatives were at the airport because of him.
“We walked towards the immigration counter and they (DSS operatives) said I should give them my passport for them to go and do…. I said, ‘no, I always do my immigration biometrics’. I went there, did that and walked out,” he said.
“Two more senior people came and said they are from the DSS and they wanted me to go to their office. I didn’t know whether they have an office at the airport or they meant the headquarters.
“All I asked for is a courtesy of a letter of invitation. That is what I believe I am entitled to as a Nigerian. They did not have a letter.
“Subsequently, we learnt that it was ICPC that procured the DSS to do the abduction. I was supposed to be abducted by the DSS and taken to ICPC.”
Asked to react to the comment of certain persons who are asking why he is afraid of arrest, el-Rufai said he is afraid of tyranny and undemocratic practices.
“I’m afraid of tyranny, undemocratic practices and people that don’t understand that in a democracy, the executive is not all-in-all,” the former governor said.
“There is a legislature that should be allowed to function, which has not been allowed to function. There is a judiciary that is supposed to be independent, which is being procured and weaponised against the opposition.”
Before the Abuja airport incident, el-Rufai had alleged that he could face a politically motivated arrest upon his return to Nigeria.
Two associates — Jimi Lawal and Amadu Sule of el-Rufai are currently facing charges pertaining to alleged fraud and money laundering preferred by the ICPC.
