By - Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai issues a personal statement addressing the silence of allies and friends since his detention began in February
- Statement comes as El-Rufai marks 220 days in custody, facing separate ICPC corruption charges and a DSS wiretapping case tied to NSA Nuhu Ribadu
- His N1bn rights suit against the ICPC, police and Attorney-General has been adjourned to October 27, with a ruling on his bid to stop the wiretapping trial fixed for October 26
Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has spoken publicly for the first time about the conspicuous silence of several long-time associates, friends and family members since he was taken into custody in February, framing his ordeal as a lesson in how adversity reveals the true nature of relationships.
In a statement titled “My Relationships and the Aftermath,” posted to his Facebook account on Wednesday and dated September 23, El-Rufai said he had lived by a personal code of standing by people and causes he believed in, “guided by my Islamic faith, my Arewa upbringing… and, above all, my conscience,” adding that those choices were his to make freely and that he remained “answerable for them.”
He argued that the same freedom now belonged to those he had once supported, some of whom, he said, “may even deny our relationship or try rewriting history,” but added that he did not intend to judge them for reacting differently than he, or others, might have expected. The former governor said adversity had given him a clearer understanding of his relationships, and stressed that he bore no ill will toward anyone who chose not to reciprocate his past support.
Rather than pursue any form of retaliation, El-Rufai said he was leaving judgment over any injustice done to him to a higher authority, closing the statement with a line that has since circulated widely on Nigerian social media: “I have no regrets… and I bear no resentment towards anyone who chooses not to do the same for me.”
A Long Legal Battle
El-Rufai has been in custody since February, and as of Wednesday had spent 220 days in detention. He is contending with prosecutions on multiple fronts: separate criminal cases brought by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission before the Kaduna State High Court and the Federal High Court in Kaduna, along with a Department of State Services prosecution before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged wiretapping offences.
That wiretapping case centres on allegations that El-Rufai unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu. His lawyers, led by Paul Erokoro (SAN), have asked the court to discharge and acquit him, arguing the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case, and a ruling on that no-case submission has been fixed for October 26.
Separately, El-Rufai is pursuing a ₦1 billion fundamental rights suit against the ICPC, the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation, arising from the February raid on his Abuja residence, which his lawyers argue amounted to a violation of his rights. That case was adjourned on Monday to October 27 to allow his counsel to respond to a counter-affidavit filed by the AGF opposing the claims.
His party, the African Democratic Congress, has previously accused the Federal Government of keeping him in detention deliberately to weaken the opposition ahead of the 2027 general election, a charge the government has not directly addressed.
For now, El-Rufai’s statement stands as his most personal public reflection yet on the toll of his detention, less on the legal proceedings themselves than on what he has learned about the people around him while fighting them.
