‘I won’t go on exile’: El-Rufai dares Tinubu's govt amid plot to arrest him

Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has dismissed speculations that he will flee Nigeria to avoid an alleged plot to arrest him.

El-Rufai, who has been at odds with the Bola Tinubu administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), insisted that he would not be intimidated.

He made this declaration in response to a post by an X user, Imran Wakili, regarding the purported plan to detain him.

“I have been hearing these same rumours of arrest, detention and torture in some dungeon in the NSA’s office since July 2024,” El-Rufai stated.

The former governor accused the authorities of attempting to silence him through judicial and political pressure.

He claimed that threats had been conveyed to him through friends, family, and political associates to force him into self-imposed exile.

“They want me to go on self-imposed exile. I will not. Silence is no longer golden. Inaction has never been an option,” he asserted.

El-Rufai revealed that he had put his academic and language-learning plans on hold to spend more time in Nigeria.

He referenced past experiences of arrest and detention, stating that such political intimidation was not new.

“The arrest, detention and torture of perceived political enemies are nothing new in human affairs,” he said.

“There is always a morning after the arrest or detention or torture, and political life continues.”

El-Rufai confirmed his intention to return to Nigeria before February 20, 2025, ahead of the scheduled launch of former President Ibrahim Babangida’s memoirs.

“We depend on no one but Allah. We fear no mortal but Almighty Allah,” he concluded.