After the treatment of residents during his term, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, cannot complain about due process, according to Chidi Odinkalu, the former head of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission.
El-Rufai is currently in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), according to a report released on Thursday.
Recall that on Wednesday, El-Rufai was freed on bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before being taken into custody by Department of State Services (DSS) agents.
Later, he was turned over to the ICPC.
In an interview with Channels Television, Odinkalu urged El-Rufai to take responsibility for his acts while in office.
The human rights activist claims that during his tenure in power, El-Rufai handled individuals with extreme impunity, irresponsibility, and brutality.
“I’ll begin with the fundamental tenet that all citizens should be treated equally under the law and that they should all be given due process,” he stated.
That implies that if someone has done something that calls for legal accountability, as I believe he [El-Rufai] has, they shouldn’t be given impunity just because they are a member of a political party or national prominence. To be clear, he should be subject to due process in the judicial system.
After resolving that, I have one more thing to say: what I’ve said goes much beyond what Nasir El-Rufai gave to people he viewed as his detractors while he was governor of Kaduna State. He acted recklessly, brutally, and with amazing impunity.
Some of his victims have passed away, like as the late Dr. Rafael Galadima, who was kidnapped along with his wife and ransomed, I assume, a day before he was killed in 2019, three months after Dadiyata vanished from his undiscovered Kaduna house. Additionally, August 2 of this year will mark the precise seventh anniversary of Dadiyata’s disappearance.
At his whim, he turned some towns from kingdoms to Emirates, essentially displacing non-Muslims from their communities and denying them the ability to assume leadership roles. These villages were primarily composed of Christians.
He expropriated the lands of certain people. The authorities expropriated or destroyed the homes of his political rivals. Nasir El-Rufai isn’t the only person, in my opinion, who can openly criticize due process.
With all due respect, he was an abhorrent governor of Kaduna State. What is his problem, by the way? Since he and President Tinubu belonged to the same party, he was the one who ran the most campaigns to overthrow the present administration.
He went to Chatham House, among other places, with President Tinubu in 2023. He was one of the main proponents of the regime. Who is pursuing him?
