{"id":894299,"date":"2026-03-25T04:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/icpc-moved-50-dss-operatives-to-airport-to-arrest-me-says-el-rufai\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T04:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:27:12","slug":"icpc-moved-50-dss-operatives-to-airport-to-arrest-me-says-el-rufai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/icpc-moved-50-dss-operatives-to-airport-to-arrest-me-says-el-rufai\/","title":{"rendered":"ICPC Moved 50 DSS Operatives To Airport To Arrest Me, Says El-Rufai"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has clarified that it was the operatives of the Department of State Services that attempted to arrest him at Abuja airport at the instance of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.<\/p>\n

He made this clarification while Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Friday.<\/p>\n

THE WHISTLER<\/strong> reports that in an earlier statement by El-Rufai\u2019s Lawyer Ubong Akpan of the Chambers of Ubong Akpan, the lawyer condemned the attempted illegal arrest of his client by security operatives<\/p>\n

According to the statement, Akpan accused the EFCC of being behind the attempted arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, we explicitly informed them that he would appear at their office by 10:00 am on Monday, February 16, 2026. Resorting to arrest despite this clear commitment exemplifies arbitrary conduct and undermines procedural integrity,\u201d the statement partly read.<\/p>\n

However, El-Rufai gave a detailed account of the incident, describing how he was approached shortly after landing in Abuja.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I came out of the plane and a young man that is well-dressed with a nice suit came to me and said, I am from the DSS, Department of State Security. I would like to meet with you in our office. I said, that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is the letter of invitation? He said, my bosses have it. I will escort you to them. I said, I\u2019m going through immigration. I have to do that. Just get me the letter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he later noticed a growing presence of operatives noting that there was an attempt to compel him to follow them without documentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently they had moved about 50 DSS operatives to the airport with the specific instructions that I should be detained. I should be abducted and detained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, I\u2019m not going anywhere until you show me a letter of invitation. Your guy said you have a letter. He said, no, sir. I said, if you don\u2019t have a letter, I\u2019m not going.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to El-Rufai, he insisted on completing immigration formalities first and resisted what he described as pressure from the officers.<\/p>\n

He stated that he told them not to touch him, stressing that he would proceed to have his passport stamped and would not follow them without due process.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the president cannot tell me I have to do anything. It\u2019s a free country. It\u2019s a democratic country. And I don\u2019t have to do anything that I do not wish to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He further alleged that his aide who briefly held his passport during the encounter was assaulted, claiming the officers seized the passport from the aide and beat him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had the passport with me, I would not be talking this,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Clarifying speculation about which agency was responsible, El-Rufai said it wasn\u2019t the EFCC but the DSS.<\/p>\n

According to him, the EFCC had previously written to invite him for discussions but his lawyers responded that he was on vacation and would honour the invitation upon return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI even said I\u2019ll celebrate my birthday on the 16th and see them at 10 a.m.\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

He, however, alleged that the ICPC sought to use the DSS to detain him before eventually issuing a formal invitation, suggesting political motivations behind the action.<\/p>\n

The former governor also accused National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu of influencing those events, though he provided no independent proof beyond what he described as information available to his associates.<\/p>\n

El-Rufai further argued that arrest without proper legal backing amounts to unlawful action, saying security agencies must obtain appropriate authorisation rather than compel attendance arbitrarily.<\/p>\n

Addressing corruption allegations linked to his tenure in Kaduna State, El-Rufai insisted he has nothing to hide, stating his administration kept detailed records of financial and security decisions and challenging critics to present proof of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have 16 years of public service. I have challenged every Nigerian who knows me to come forward if I have ever taken a bribe. We are a heavily documented government. Everything that has come to me for approval, I have records,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also rejected claims that his government negotiated with armed groups, saying his administration maintained a strict stance against paying bandits or kidnappers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe position of the Kaduna State government when I was governor is the only repentant bandit is a dead one,\u201d he clarified.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has clarified that it was the operatives of the Department of State Services that attempted to arrest him at Abuja airport at the instance of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He made this clarification while Speaking during an interview on ARISE News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":894300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346,44427],"tags":[8255,44426],"class_list":{"0":"post-894299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moved","8":"category-operatives","9":"tag-moved","10":"tag-operatives"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}