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.
CityNews 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.
The lawyer argued that the authorities appeared to be using multiple charges and proceedings in different courts to prolong her husband’s detention.
She further alleged that Nigeria was drifting from legitimate accountability towards “lawfare,” which she described as the deployment of legal institutions and judicial procedures as political weapons.
“The concern is not whether former officials may be investigated; they can and should be.
“The concern is whether the law is being applied neutrally or deployed against those who have fallen out of political favour,” she said.
Asia linked her husband’s predicament to his disagreement with President Bola Tinubu’s administration and his departure from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
She argued that his political differences with the government should not expose him to indefinite detention or persecution disguised as prosecution.
“His political rupture with President Bola Tinubu’s ruling All Progressives Congress and his refusal to surrender his independent voice should not make him a target for indefinite punishment or detention disguised as prosecution,” she said.
Describing the legal proceedings as confusing, Asia alleged that the cases involved overlapping accusations, shifting legal arguments and duplicated claims arising from the same events.
“The legal architecture surrounding him is bewildering even to trained observers: multiple charges in different courts, overlapping allegations, shifting statutory theories and duplicated claims arising from the same alleged events.
“If one application for bail is made and the conditions are met, another accusation can be filed the next day. If one judge must consider freedom, another process can be used to delay it,” she alleged.
According to her, such procedures had turned the judicial process into a form of punishment before conviction.
“This is how judicial procedure becomes premeditated punishment. This is how we have arrived at 150 days of unjust detention,” she added.
Asia claimed the alleged treatment extended beyond her husband to some of his associates, including Joel Adoga, Jimi Lawal and Professor Abubakar Bello.
She alleged that Adoga, whom she described as a former public servant and family breadwinner, had experienced prolonged detention, including about one month in solitary confinement.
She also claimed that Lawal’s health had deteriorated significantly while in custody.
Asia further referred to the reported July 7 arrest and detention of Bello, whom she described as El-Rufai’s personal physician, alleging that he was given difficult bail conditions.
“These men are beloved family members and Nigerian citizens. These men are not case files. Their families are not collateral damage to be ignored in the pursuit of a political vendetta,” she said.
Asia appealed to Nigeria’s diplomatic and development partners not to ignore the allegations surrounding her husband’s detention.
She argued that countries and organisations supporting Nigeria’s democratic institutions, security agencies, anti-corruption bodies and development programmes had an interest in ensuring that such institutions respected human rights and due process.
“A country cannot receive international support while using ostensibly democratic institutions to annihilate opposition political voices,” she said.
She urged diplomatic missions, international organisations and human rights advocates to demand transparent proceedings, humane detention conditions and prompt access to medical care.
Asia also asked them to ensure that anti-corruption enforcement was not used as a tool for political retaliation.
Addressing Tinubu directly, Asia urged the President to allow the courts to handle her husband’s case fairly and independently.
“To President Tinubu, I say this with respect and sorrow: history is rarely kind to leaders who allow power to wound the innocent in order to silence the inconvenient.
“A strong government does not fear a strong critic,” she said.
She called for El-Rufai to be given access to his lawyers, medical personnel and family while facing any credible allegations against him.
“If my husband is credibly accused, let him face the accusations with access to his legal team, his doctors and his family. Let the evidence speak in court, not through orchestrated leaks of falsehood,” she added.
Asia concluded that the matter went beyond her husband’s personal circumstances and raised wider questions about judicial independence and equal protection under the law.
“Nigeria’s friends must understand that this case is larger than Nasir El-Rufai. It is about whether a citizen can fall out with power and still be protected by law.
“It is about whether courts will be places of justice or theatres of intimidation,” she said.
She maintained that she was not asking the international community to determine her husband’s innocence but to support the democratic principles of fairness, due process, humane treatment and equality before the law.
