My husband’s detention is political and his bail conditions are difficult to meet – Asiya el-Rufai

Asiya el-Rufai, one of the wives of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, has alleged that political forces are working to keep her husband in detention by making it difficult for him to meet the bail conditions imposed by the courts.

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, July 8, Asiya described the bail conditions granted to the former governor in separate cases before federal high courts in Kaduna and Abuja as impractical.

She explained that one of the conditions imposed by the Federal High Court in Kaduna required an attestation letter from the Kaduna Traditional Council, which she said the family was unable to obtain. According to her, “Mallam has been accused of offences in different courts. These charges are clearly bailable offences under Nigerian law. He has applied for bail several times.”

She added, “In the federal high court, he was granted bail with terms that are not viable. In federal high court in Kaduna, Justice Aikawa granted bail for two sureties, N200 million each with property worth N200 million in GRA Kaduna. He also said that the traditional council in Kaduna state must give attestation. Efforts to get this became impossible. The traditional council would not give that attestation. They gave no reason directly. They just said they are unable to do it.” Asiya also said the family encountered further challenges while attempting to verify property documents required for the bail process.

“When you want to post a bail, you have to do property verification and submit the original certificate. Before you submit your original certificate, you need to go to the land registry and verify it. The land registry in Kaduna was shut down at that period. We were stuck in the mud. Every effort to get that became impossible,” she said.

Speaking on the bail conditions imposed by the Federal High Court in Abuja, she argued that the requirement for a civil servant surety to own property in either Asokoro or Maitama was unrealistic. According to her, even where eligible civil servants exist, many are unwilling to stand as sureties because of the scrutiny they could face.

Asiya suggested that politics may be influencing the situation. “I don’t want to speculate but as a Nigerian and human beings, I don’t think it is wrong if I say that there must be some politics going on,” she said.

She also noted that her husband voluntarily returned to Nigeria to honour invitations from law enforcement agencies, arguing that he would have remained outside the country if he intended to evade prosecution.

Nasir el-Rufai is facing separate criminal charges filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) before the Kaduna High Court and the Federal High Court in Kaduna. He is also being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of wiretapping.

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