The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has alleged that the personal physician of former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, was arrested while his wife was assaulted by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) during a hospital visit in Abuja on Tuesday.
The allegation was contained in a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.
“Information reaching us is that El-Rufai was billed for treatment at the National Hospital in Abuja today. But against the hospital’s advice that he would require hospitalisation in view of his failing health, officials of the ICPC insisted on returning him into custody. Protests by his personal physician and his wife led to scuffles during which his wife was assaulted and the doctor subsequently arrested,”the statement revealed.
The party described the alleged incident as a violation of constitutional rights and accused the federal government of using state institutions to persecute political opponents.
“The actions of the ICPC and the Tinubu government have for months now gone beyond the realm of law enforcement. Their actions have become an assault on the Constitution of 200 million Nigerians, on human dignity, and on the most basic principles of justice and human rights,” it stated.
The ADC further argued that El-Rufai was being denied rights guaranteed under the law, stating, “No democratic government that claims to respect the rule of law should deny a detainee access to medical care or prevent close family members from seeing him in flagrant disobedience of the courts, which granted him unfettered access to his lawyers, physician and family members.”
The party also maintained that the issue extended beyond the former governor, saying, “This is no longer about Mallam El-Rufai alone. It is about whether Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy or has descended into a republic where law enforcement agencies have become instruments of political persecution.”
Among its demands, the ADC called for immediate and unrestricted access for El-Rufai to his wife, children, legal team and personal medical practitioners. It also sought an urgent review of what it described as punitive bail conditions, an end to the conditions under which he is being held, full compliance with constitutional safeguards for persons in custody, transparency from the ICPC regarding the restrictions imposed on him, and an end to what it termed the use of state institutions for political intimidation and selective justice.
Neither the ICPC nor the Presidency had responded to the allegations at the time of filing this report.
