Human rights lawyer and activist, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has called on former Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to confront the consequences of his actions while in office. Odinkalu argued that the ex-Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister “should have nothing to cry about but should embrace his current predicament with joy.”
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) confirmed on Thursday, the 19th of February, 2026, that El-Rufai is now in its custody. According to reports, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested him shortly after his release on bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, the 18th of February. He was subsequently handed over to the ICPC.
Odinkalu, a former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, told Channels TV that El-Rufai governed with “extraordinary impunity, recklessness and brutality.”
“I’ll start from the principle premise that every citizen deserves due process and every person should be treated equally under law.
“What that means is that no one should be granted impunity, just for the sake of it, because of who they are, because they are inside of the political divide or national profile, if they have done things that warrant legal accountability, and I think he [El-Rufai] has. Let me be quite clear about that, then he should be subject to legal process, due legal process.
“And having cleared that up, I must say one more thing, which is that what I’ve said is a lot more than Nasir El-Rufai afforded those whom he treated as critics during his time as governor of Kaduna State.
He treated people with extraordinary impunity, recklessness and brutality.
READ ALSO: ICPC Takes Former Kaduna Governor El-Rufai Into Custody Amid Corruption Probe
“Some of his victims are dead, including the late Dr Rafael Galadima, who was abducted with his wife, ransom paid a day before he was slaughtered in 2019 I believe, that was three months after Dadiyata had disappeared from his home in Kaduna that has not been found. And then August 2 this year, will make it exactly seven years since Dadiyata disappeared.
“There were communities that he converted at his whim, from kingdoms to Emirates, which meant that people who were not Muslims, in these communities, mostly of Christians became effectively dispossessed of their communities and dispossessed of the rights to accede to community leadership.
“There were people whose lands he expropriated. His political opponents had their houses demolished or expropriated by the state. I don’t think the one person who can frankly complain about due process is Nasir El-Rufai.
“He was despicable as a governor of Kaduna state with due respect. And by the way, what is his problem? He was the person, more than any other, who campaigned to bring the current dispensation to power because he and President Tinubu were in the same party.
“In 2023, he traveled with President Tinubu to Chatham House, amongst others. He was one of the principal campaigners for the dispensation, who is persecuting, who?” He queried.