‘Punishment Before Trial’ – El-Rufai’s Wife Raises Alarm Over 150 Days Detention, Health Concerns

Asia Ahmad El-Rufai, wife of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has appealed to the international community to intervene over what she described as her husband’s prolonged detention and alleged denial of due process.

Naijaonpoint reports that Asia, a lawyer, argued that the former governor’s continued incarceration amounted to “punishment before trial” and posed a threat to Nigeria’s democratic institutions.

In a public statement issued to mark what she described as the 150th day of El-Rufai’s detention, Asia called on foreign governments, multilateral organisations and international human rights groups to closely monitor the legal proceedings involving her husband.

She said she was speaking not as a political actor but as a wife and mother seeking fairness for a member of her family.

Reflecting on the length of the alleged detention, Asia said the period had taken a significant emotional and physical toll on El-Rufai and members of his family.

“On the 150th day of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s detention, I ask readers outside Nigeria to pause over what that number means. One hundred and fifty days is not a legal phrase.

“It is five months of missed meals, missed prayers, missed proper mourning of his deceased mother, missed family conversations, interrupted medical care and moments we can never recover,” she said.

Asia acknowledged that her husband had been a controversial figure during more than two decades in public service.

El-Rufai previously served as Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and governor of Kaduna State.

“My husband is no stranger to controversy or public scrutiny. He has been praised, criticised, loved and opposed. That is democracy.

“But what is happening to him today is not democracy, and it is not accountability. It is punishment before trial,” she said.

Asia alleged that her husband’s ordeal began when security officials attempted to intercept him at an airport, seized his passport without a warrant and assaulted one of his aides.

She said El-Rufai subsequently honoured an invitation from the authorities voluntarily but was detained despite assurances that he would be granted bail.

“There was the sudden invitation, his voluntary appearance before the authorities, and the promise of bail that existed on paper but not in freedom.

“There was the night he was moved between locations without warning and without the dignity of allowing his family to know where he was being taken,” she stated.

Asia also alleged that the former governor became seriously ill while in custody and experienced bleeding from his nose and mouth.

She claimed that officials were reluctant to provide him with adequate medical attention or allow his family to deliver his prescribed medication.

“I still remember the helplessness of hearing that he had fallen gravely ill in custody, bleeding from his nose and mouth, while those responsible for his welfare were reluctant to provide the care any person deserves.

“I remember the anxiety of trying to get his medication to him and wondering whether officials would accept it,” she said.

According to her, the detention had inflicted emotional distress on the family, which continued to wait for the legal process to take its course.

“These are not abstract violations. They are the moments that chip away at a family’s resolve and hope,” she added.

Asia maintained that she was not asking for her husband to be placed above the law, stressing that former public officials should be investigated where credible allegations existed.

She, however, insisted that such investigations must be conducted transparently and in accordance with constitutional safeguards.

“If the state believes it has evidence, let it be presented before an impartial court, openly and fairly.

“But justice cannot be selective. It cannot be pursued through overlapping charges, repeated detention, impossible bail conditions and public humiliation designed to persuade the nation of guilt before a judge has heard the case,” she said.