El-Rufai: Northern activist calls for bail variation for former Kaduna governor

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA – Human‑rights activist Ibrahim Garba Wala has urged the courts to review and amend the bail conditions imposed on former Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir El‑Rufai, arguing that the current terms amount to a pre‑trial punishment that keeps the ex‑governor in continuous confinement.

Wala, who is active in anti‑corruption work, issued the statement on Saturday in Abuja. He also addressed rumors that El‑Rufai had died in custody, which the governor’s family has denied, noting that the rapid spread of the rumors reflects growing public concern over the former governor’s welfare.

“The rumor did not arise in a vacuum. It is the natural outcome of a growing public panic that the treatment meted out to El‑Rufai has moved beyond a routine legal process into a coordinated, malicious silence and slow‑death trap,” Wala said.

The activist cited an intervention by Nigerian Bar Association President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, who has warned that bail conditions are being weaponised by courts and law enforcement across the country. Wala claims El‑Rufai’s case is the most dangerous example of this trend.

According to Wala, the bail conditions attached to El‑Rufai’s release require multiple sureties who must be federal civil servants at Grade Level 17, original certificates of occupancy for properties worth hundreds of millions of naira in high‑end Abuja districts such as Maitama or Asokoro, and mandatory check‑ins at security headquarters. He argues that these requirements constitute a structural refusal of bail rather than a genuine mechanism to secure trial attendance.

He referenced the Court of Appeal ruling in “Dasuki v. DG, SSS”, which held that demanding civil servants provide multi‑million naira properties is a logistical absurdity and a violation of public service frameworks. He also cited the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which states that bail conditions must be tailored solely to ensure attendance at trial and must never serve as instruments of pre‑conviction punishment.

Wala further alleged a political motive behind El‑Rufai’s continued detention, pointing to a convergence of historical adversaries and entrenched interest groups that are exploiting the judicial process to settle old scores. He said that elements within the current security apparatus are using the case to revisit ideological clashes from El‑Rufai’s tenure, while powerful regional factions are leveraging long‑standing grievances over his structural reforms and security policies as governor.

“By capturing or heavily influencing the machinery of federal law enforcement, these combined forces have transformed what should be a transparent legal process into a coordinated proxy war. It is an unholy alliance using the courts not to seek justice, but to execute a long‑awaited vendetta,” he said.

Wala made three specific demands: an immediate variation of El‑Rufai’s bail conditions to realistic and achievable parameters; a purge of the biased actors he identifies within the Department of State Services, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and the broader federal government apparatus; and a firm restoration of the presumption of innocence in the handling of El‑Rufai’s case.

“If Malam Nasir El‑Rufai is allowed to suffer a silent, systematic breakdown in custody under the guise of impossible bail, it will mark the formal burial of constitutional liberty in Nigeria,” he warned.

The post El‑Rufai: Northern activist demands bail variation for ex‑Kaduna Gov appeared first on Vanguard News.