A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kenneth Okonkwo, said the ongoing ordeal of former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai is due largely to his decision to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Okonkwo, a lawyer-cum-politician, stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Friday.
He accused the President Bola Tinubu-led administration of persecuting the ex-governor using state apparatuses.
According to him, El-Rufai’s continued detention is a blatant violation of his constitutional rights.
“He is being maltreated, he is being persecuted because he has joined ADC, and we are not exculpating anybody,” Okonkwo said.
He added, “For now, he (Tinubu) is using his authority as the commander-in-chief to use the instrumentality of the anti-corruption agencies in courts, because I wonder whether there is any commission fighting corruption in Tinubu’s regime.”
He said the practice of holding suspects indefinitely under the guise of ongoing investigations runs afoul of the spirit of the constitution.
“That is illegal, and any such order is unconstitutional. If El-Rufai committed any crime, please bring him to trial, grant him bail, so that if he is convicted, fine, nobody in ADC is quarrelling against the rule of law,” Okonkwo stated.
He further said an arrest should follow the conclusion of investigations, not precede it.
“The whole idea of arrest is that you have completed your investigation and found the person culpable for the crime you alleged he committed. It is the duty of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the suspect, not the suspect to defend his innocence,” he said.
El-Rufai was detained on February 16 after honouring an invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He was released two days after and subsequently re-arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), who handed him over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). The ex-governor has remained in custody ever since.
On February 12, ICPC had tried and failed to get him arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, upon his arrival from Cairo, Egypt.
Credit: The Sun