Atiku’s aide accuses Tinubu of harassing former Gov El-Rufai

Paul Ibe, media aide to Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, has accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of harassing former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

Ibe lamented the prolonged detention of El-Rufai, who has now spent a total of 126 days in custody.

In a Facebook post, Ibe alleged that the current administration is targeting El-Rufai for defecting from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the ADC.

Describing the trial as a “sham,” Ibe wrote,  “Yesterday marked day 126 of the abduction and detention of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former Governor of Kaduna State and chieftain of the ADC.

“By now, it should be clear to all, irrespective of political leaning, that the Tinubu-led APC administration is harassing and intimidating El-Rufai for having parted ways with the APC,” Ibe noted.

He further claimed that President Tinubu is determined to keep the ADC chieftain incarcerated until after the 2027 general elections.

“The sham trial of the ADC chieftain is politically motivated. We’ve gathered from those asking him to go and make ‘peace’ (whatever that means) with President Bola Tinubu, because he (Tinubu) is allegedly focused on keeping him until after the 2027 elections.

“The adjournment of his case to September appears to confirm this. Meanwhile, the conditions of the bail granted to El-Rufai are too punitive and clearly meant to keep him perpetually in detention.

“In fact, the bail conditions only encourage civil servants to loot maximally and acquire assets and properties at all costs while in service,” he added.