Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
A former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has said the continued detention of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai should be viewed against the record of his eight-year administration, alleging that the former governor is now experiencing the same treatment he meted out to critics, journalists and political opponents while in office.
Sani spoke on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television's Politics Today, reacting to concerns in some opposition circles that El-Rufai had become a "prisoner of conscience" amid his ongoing detention and legal battles. "El-Rufai is paying the price of his misgovernance and his irresponsibility when he was in public office," he said. "When you are in office, always remind yourself that it is an opportunity and it is a very temporary opportunity for you." He said public officials often forget that power is transient and that decisions taken in office could later attract scrutiny.
The former lawmaker, who said he personally spent more than four years in prison as a pro-democracy activist during military rule, said he was therefore familiar with the pains of detention and could not be lectured on the subject. "I think he is in detention for, like they say, 200 days or something like that. For someone like me, who has been in prison for four years, I don't think anyone can lecture me on detention, on the pains of imprisonment, and staying in the gulag for such a very long time," Sani said. He said being out of circulation naturally came with losing friends and seeing things differently.
Sani accused El-Rufai of having no respect for the rule of law while in office, alleging that his administration disobeyed court orders and used state institutions against critics. "He was in office; he had no respect for the law. He did not obey court orders. He arrested many people and sent them to jail, and today he has found himself in the very place where he took so many people," he said. He described the period between 2015 and 2023 as one marked by "misgovernance, irresponsible leadership and the use of statecraft to attack and jail opponents in Kaduna."
To buttress his claim, Sani cited several cases. He recalled the arrest of Luka Binyat, a correspondent of Vanguard newspaper, whom he said was arrested and jailed for almost a year over a report on alleged payments to bandits by the Kaduna State Government. He also cited 89 community leaders from Kachia Local Government who, according to him, were arrested after protesting the killing of their leader and spent over nine months in Kaduna Prison. He mentioned Islamic clerics from Zaria who prayed after being retrenched from the civil service, a lecturer at Kaduna State University, John Danfulani, and Maida Joseph, a reporter with Leadership newspaper, as other individuals he said were arrested and jailed for criticising the government. He further alleged that members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria remained in detention for six to seven years under trial for murder charges, with efforts to secure their release frustrated by the administration.
The former senator also rejected suggestions that El-Rufai's record on security in Kaduna State was being unfairly criticised. He said insecurity had affected Southern Kaduna and other parts of the state for years, and alleged that the former administration failed to do enough to protect residents. "If he has done anything, the bloodshed would not have been worse as they were," Sani said. He also accused El-Rufai of inconsistency on banditry, citing reports that Kaduna authorities had negotiated with bandits during his tenure. "It came from the lips of the former governor that they pay bandits not to kill," he said, referencing the Binyat case.
Responding to claims by some commentators that El-Rufai had been unfairly treated, Sani said many of those defending the former governor had never visited the affected areas. "Eighty per cent of those who are commenting have never been to Southern Kaduna. They don't know where Sanga is, where Kauru is, where Kachia is, where Kagarko is, where Banchiki is, where Kufana and Ozan Kuzeta are. So, they only read what they read on the pages of newspapers," he said.
El-Rufai has been in custody since February 2026, following investigations into alleged financial misconduct and the alleged unlawful interception of telephone communications involving National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu. He is facing separate criminal prosecutions by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission before the Kaduna State High Court and the Federal High Court in Kaduna, as well as prosecution by the Department of State Services before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged wiretapping offences. On September 22, 2026, a Federal High Court in Abuja reserved ruling on his no-case submission in the wiretapping case and adjourned the matter until October 26, 2026. His bail conditions, granted at N200 million with two sureties, have not been fulfilled, according to the ICPC, which has consistently denied that his detention is political. By September 24, 2026, El-Rufai had spent 220 days in custody.
The ADC had accused the Federal Government of deliberately keeping El-Rufai in detention to weaken the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections. El-Rufai was named deputy chairman of Atiku Abubakar's Presidential Campaign Council on Thursday, a move that Momodu said was intended to honour his political sacrifice. The former governor addressed the silence of some former colleagues and associates during his current circumstances in a statement titled "My Relationships and the Aftermath," saying adversity had given him a clearer understanding of his relationships.
Sani's position is consistent with his earlier calls for a comprehensive probe of El-Rufai's eight-year administration. In February 2026, he urged the EFCC to act on the reported indictment of the former governor by the Kaduna State House of Assembly, alleging mismanagement of public funds running into hundreds of billions of naira between 2015 and 2023. He also called for investigations into the disappearance of political activist Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata, who has been missing since 2019.
The intervention comes amid a charged political environment ahead of the 2027 general elections, scheduled for January 16, with the governorship and state assembly elections following on February 6. Atiku is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, with former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate. President Bola Tinubu is seeking a second term on the APC ticket, while Peter Obi is contesting on the NDC platform with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate. As the campaign intensifies, the treatment of El-Rufai and the legality of his continued detention will remain a contested issue, and Sani has placed his position firmly on the record: the former governor is reaping what he sowed.
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