A Tribute to His Excellency Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai on His 200th Day of Unlawful Incarceration:
By: Hajiya Hafsat Mohammed Baba
4th September 2026
๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ก, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ.
๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
There is a distinct and agonizing tragedy in watching a political warrior brought low not by his enemies but by the very men he fought to place in power.
Today marks exactly 200 days since His Excellency Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai was confined in the cold and unforgiving cells of state detention.
For 200 days, a man who redefined urban governance and whose fierce intellect and raw courage helped build the foundations of the current ruling order, has endured what his supporters regard as a calculated and deeply vindictive campaign of state-sponsored persecution.
To survey Nigeriaโs current political landscape is to witness profound ingratitude and an extraordinary betrayal of trust. The very architects of his present ordeal now enjoy the fruits of a political victory that might not have been possible without the stubborn and unyielding defiance of Nasir El-Rufai.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐๐
When history records the turbulence of the 2023 presidential election cycle, El-Rufaiโs name will appear among the frontline figures who confronted what became widely described as the โAso Rock Cabal.โ
๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ: When a powerful faction within the then presidency sought to impose a northern consensus candidate and deny the South its turn, El-Rufai stood in the gap, While others hesitated he helped rally the Northern APC governors, took the argument directly to the Presidential Villa and pressed for a formal declaration that power should shift to the South.
At a decisive moment, he helped clear the political path when Bola Tinubuโs presidential ambition appeared threatened by forces within his own party.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง: Who can forget the chaos caused by the Central Bankโs currency redesign policy only weeks before the election? To many within the APC, the policy threatened to provoke public anger, cripple campaign activity and damage the partyโs electoral prospects.
While several governors limited themselves to cautious public statements, El-Rufai took the extraordinary political step of joining the legal challenge against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court. He openly opposed a sitting Presidentโs national broadcast and urged Kaduna residents to continue accepting the old notes, seeking to shield citizens and the APCโs voter base from economic paralysis.
๐๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ: He went on national television and despite the risks of confronting the state establishment, declared that elements within the Presidential Villa were working against their own partyโs candidate. He became a shield, a bullhorn and an intellectual anchor for the campaign.
At international forums such as Chatham House, he defended the Muslim-Muslim ticket and helped persuade a sceptical northern electorate to support the partyโs candidate.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฅ: ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ
200 Days in the Wilderness How has this extraordinary loyalty been repaid? Not with honour or with the respect due to a political ally and kingmakers but with a degrading, multi-agency legal siege that appears designed to break his spirit. The sequence of events unfolding before us does not resemble the impartial administration of justice.
To his supporters, it represents the weaponization of the state for the settlement of political scores. What began with the denial of ministerial confirmation on the basis of undisclosed โsecurity clearancesโ has escalated into a succession of investigations and proceedings.
El-Rufai has been drawn into matters involving the EFCC, ICPC and DSS, confronting overlapping allegations ranging from financial claims connected to unexecuted rail projects to an allegation of โunlawful phone interceptionโ involving the National Security Adviser.
Whatever the formal explanations, the cumulative effect creates the appearance of a coordinated political offensive rather than an ordinary legal process. Some of the political beneficiaries now presiding over Kaduna State have also joined the fray through proceedings before the State High Court. Rather than acknowledge the political foundation they inherited, they repeatedly invoke disputed figures concerning El-Rufai-era state debts as an excuse for their own failure to govern with competence and imagination.
Even when the courts granted him bail, the goalposts appeared to shift, leaving him trapped in a web of changing conditions and parallel legal proceedings. More troubling are the allegations contained in his fundamental rights suits that his wife and son were prevented from visiting him and that his access to family, proper medication, and food was temporarily restricted.
The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria has also publicly cautioned the government against the appearance of political persecution and called for respect for the rule of law. MURIC and several concerned civil society actors and organisations have also echoed this call.
๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ :
Those in power today must remember that power is transient. To deploy the combined weight of the ICPC, EFCC and DSS against a man who took enormous political risks for their ambition sends a chilling message to every ally still serving them: ๐ง๐จ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ.
Malam Nasir El-Rufai is a man of flaws, as all mortals are. But his supporters do not believe that the allegations of contract inflation or unlawful surveillance explain the intensity of the campaign against him. In their view, his true offence was possessing an independent mind, an uncompromising voice and the audacity to expect honour among men who regard loyalty merely as a disposable ladder.
On this sombre 200th day of what we regard as his unlawful and unjust incarceration, we do not mourn El-Rufai; we mourn the death of political conscience in Nigeria. Malam will survive this crucible, as he has survived previous political exiles. But history will remember those who orchestrated his fall as men who ate the harvest, burned the farm and locked up the farmer. ๐๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ.
Hajiya Hafsat Mohammed Baba
ADC National Vice Chairman,
North-West Zone
She writes from Kaduna.
