Former Governor Nasir El-Rufai has issued an alert to the public, alleging certain malicious orchestrations directed against him.

El-Rufai emphasized that the unwarranted effort to arrest him upon his arrival at Abuja Airport from Cairo on 12 February 2026 served as a clear signal of more troubling developments to follow.
The Media Adviser to Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Muyiwa Adekeye, in a statement highlighted that on 16 February 2026, Malam El-Rufai honoured an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. He was detained, then, transferred to the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on the night of 18 February. He remains in detention and has been arraigned in two separate high courts.

Adekeye narrated that on 18 April 2026, The Nation newspaper published a report headlined “El-Rufai’s trial: Gunmen invade principal witness home.”

According to the Media Adviser, the article stated that Mohammed Umar Karage, a witness in the criminal proceedings at the Kaduna State High Court, had reported to the police that armed individuals had invaded his residence. He noted that while it is the civic duty of every citizen to report crimes to the authorities, it is an entirely different matter to publish false imputations against others.

Adekeye maintained that The Nation Newspaper proceeded to do precisely that by including innuendos suggestive of a plot to frame Malam Nasir El-Rufai.

According to the report, Adekeye noted, Karage linked the incident to his role as a witness in the corruption charges against El-Rufai, specifically, one of the nine counts involving the alleged unlawful revocation and reallocation of land. The article further quoted Karage as alleging that the invasion might be part of an effort to silence him, drawing parallels with the controversial disappearance of Kaduna-based activist, Abubakar Idris Dadiyata.

Ge declared that any objective reader would recognise the clear intent behind these statements: to smear Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s reputation, jeopardise his pending bail application at the Kaduna State High Court, and implicate him in serious capital offences. Adekeye stated that the evident objective is to secure El-Rufai's indefinite detention through these reprehensible tactics. "Such conduct is unacceptable, particularly, toward a citizen who has made substantial contributions to our country," he declared.

The Media Adviser asserted that Nasir El-Rufai is an upstanding and law-abiding citizen who has no connection, whatsoever, to the incidents described in The Nation Newspaper’s publication. Therefore, he has already instructed his legal team to initiate defamation proceedings in this matter, Adekeye said.

The Media Adviser decried that since 2023, El-Rufai has been subjected to an appalling and sustained campaign of innuendos and vilification. "

According to him, "this is a man with a distinguished record of public service. Many will recall his sterling service to the cause of national unity through his principled opposition to opportunism, alongside other senior leaders, during the events leading to the 2022 primaries of the ruling party and thereafter".

Adekeye advocated that the rule of law must never be perverted into a tool of oppression. Legal processes should serve the ends of justice, not be employed to deny a citizen his fundamental right to liberty while he stands trial.

"Malam Nasir El-Rufai should be accorded full due process guaranteed by law to every citizen, and the persistent disregard for his rights must cease immediately, he declared.