Security confiscate El-Rufai’s passport after failed arrest move – aide
Security operatives on Thursday allegedly attempted to arrest former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly after he returned from Cairo, Egypt.
The claim was made by Muyiwa Adekeye, media adviser to the former governor, in a series of social media posts accompanied by videos of the incident.
According to Adekeye, the operatives approached El-Rufai as he disembarked from his flight and asked him to follow them. However, the former governor reportedly refused, insisting that he would not submit himself to arrest without a formal invitation or warrant.
“Security agents today attempted to arrest Malam Nasir El-Rufai as he arrived on a flight from Cairo,” Adekeye wrote in a post later shared by El-Rufai himself. “Malam El-Rufai declined to follow them without a formal invitation.”
The aide further alleged that during the confrontation, security personnel seized the former governor’s passport from one of his aides.
“They, however, snatched his passport,” he added.
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As of the time of filing this report, it remains unclear which agency initiated the action, though speculation has mentioned the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
One of the videos shared online shows an official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) attempting to stop bystanders from filming the encounter.
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El-Rufai had recently told BBC Hausa that he believed he could be arrested in the near future. The former governor, now a prominent figure in the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), claimed that some of his associates had already been detained.
“Four people we worked with in Kaduna have been arrested; so it’s only a matter of time before they come for me too,” he said.
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