Security operatives on Thursday reportedly moved to arrest former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly after he arrived from Cairo, Egypt.
The development was made public by his media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, via a post on his 𝕏 account.
According to Adekeye, the operatives tried to take El-Rufai into custody, but the former governor insisted on being shown a formal invitation before complying. He added that the agents subsequently seized El-Rufai’s international passport from one of his aides.
The statement from Adekeye reads: “Security agents today attempted to arrest Malam Nasir elrufai as he arrived on a flight from Cairo. Malam El-Rufai declined to follow them without a formal Invitation. They however snatched his passport from an aide.”
MaaziTV recalls that El-Rufai had earlier alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government might be planning his arrest amid escalating political tensions in the country.
The former governor, once a prominent APC figure but now aligned with the opposition African Democratic Congress, also claimed that certain politicians were being pressured to either defect to the ruling party or stay within its ranks.
He made these assertions during an interview with BBC Hausa.
El-Rufai, who has recently stepped up his criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the APC, noted that while he had not been detained, some of his associates had already been arrested.