Former presidential adviser, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has described the former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, as a political prisoner, following his continued detention.
Baba-Ahmed, in a post shared on his 𝕏 account, said the controversy surrounding El-Rufai’s detention had gone beyond the state’s insistence on keeping him in custody without trial or conviction.
He argued that the development was damaging public confidence in the rule of law and undermining accepted standards of justice and fairness.
Baba-Ahmed wrote, “Nasir el-Rufai’s saga is assuming a character far bigger than the determined insistence by the State that he must remain locked up, without being tried and/or sentenced.”
Baba-Ahmed maintained that keeping the former governor in detention without due legal process sent a dangerous signal about respect for the law.
He added, “It is making a mockery of the rule of law and all standards of decency. El-Rufai is now a political prisoner.”
Naijaonpoint reports that Baba-Ahmed’s stand comes after members of El-Rufai’s family appealed to the Tinubu administration over the former governor’s continued detention.
El-Rufai’s first wife, Hajiya Asiya, had said the family did not deserve the treatment being meted out to them, noting that they supported and campaigned for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2023 general elections.
