Odinkalu Sparks Reactions With Explosive Take On El-Rufai, Umar And Malami’s Detention

Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, has said the reported detention of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, former Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, and former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, underscores the fleeting nature of political power.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Odinkalu made the remarks in a post on his X account, where he reflected on what he described as the unexpected turn of events involving the three prominent public figures.

According to him, very few people at the beginning of 2023 would have believed that El-Rufai, Malami and Umar could one day find themselves in judicially sanctioned administrative detention.

He argued that endorsing injustice against political opponents often creates dangerous precedents that can later affect those who once benefited from such actions.

“If you told anyone at the beginning of 2023 that Danladi Umar, Abubakar Malami and Nasir El-Rufai would all be in judicially sanctioned administrative detention in Nigeria, the person would probably have called you mad, and understandably so. But here we are,” Odinkalu wrote.

He added that those who celebrate injustice because it affects their perceived opponents should remember that power is temporary and circumstances can quickly change.

Meanwhile, former presidential adviser Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has described El-Rufai as a political prisoner amid his continued detention.

In a separate post on X, Baba-Ahmed argued that the controversy surrounding the former Kaduna governor’s detention had grown beyond the government’s insistence on keeping him in custody without trial or conviction.

According to him, the situation risks eroding public confidence in the rule of law and undermining established principles of justice and fairness.

“Nasir El-Rufai’s case has grown into something much bigger than the state’s determination to keep him in detention without trial or conviction,” Baba-Ahmed wrote.

He further argued that detaining the former governor without due legal process sends the wrong signal about respect for the rule of law, adding that, in his view, El-Rufai has become “a political prisoner.”

Baba-Ahmed’s comments come after members of El-Rufai’s family appealed to the administration of President Bola Tinubu over the former governor’s continued detention.

El-Rufai’s first wife, Hajiya Asiya El-Rufai, said the family did not deserve the treatment they were receiving, noting that they actively supported and campaigned for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2023 general elections.