Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, says there is a new plan to frame him for crimes. He says there are coordinated efforts to damage his reputation and keep him in jail for a long time.
His Media Adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, made the accusation in a statement on Sunday.
El-Rufai said that recent events show that there are “malicious orchestrations” aimed at ruining his reputation.
The former governor said that on February 12, 2026, he was supposedly marked for arrest when he arrived at the Abuja airport from Cairo.
He also said that he went to a meeting with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on February 16, and after that, he was arrested.
El-Rufai said that on February 18, he was moved to the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The former governor is worried about something that happened recently: a report says that gunmen broke into the home of a key witness in a trial at the Kaduna State High Court.
One Mohammed Umar Karage was quoted in the report as saying that the attack could be connected to his role in the case and could be an attempt to silence him.
El-Rufai’s camp, on the other hand, denied any connection to the event and said the publication was making “false imputations” against him.
The statement said, “Any objective reader would see the clear intent behind these statements: to damage his reputation and justify his continued detention.”
The camp said that the report was made on purpose to damage 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 attack.
He said that his lawyers had been told to start a lawsuit against the newspaper for defamation.
The statement also said that the former governor has been the target of a long-running campaign of “innuendos and vilification” since 2023.
It warned against abusing the legal system and stressed the importance of following the law.
The statement went on to say, “El-Rufai should be given full due process, which is a right that every citizen has under the law. The constant violation of his rights must stop right away.”
