By Adesina Soyooye
An emotional wife of the embattled former Governor of Kaduna State Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has tugged at President Bola Tinubu’s conscience.
Hajiya Asiya El-Rufai, a Lawyer, and a member of her husband’s legal team, while addressing the Press on what she termed her husband’s dire health situation asked the President to remember the past and decide whether he has been fair to the El-Rufai family.
Specifically referring to the role her family played in 2023 to see to it that Tinubu won the Presidential race, a teary Mrs El-Rufai, flanked by one of his co-wives, Aichatou, asked Tinubu: “Mr President Sir, I campaigned for you. I stood up and went to every nook and cranny of Kaduna State for you. My husband stood by your side. Is this what our family deserves?”
Indeed, El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State at the time, was one of the main faces who saw to Tinubu’s success in 2023. He challenged the now late President Muhammadu Buhari by leading a delegation of APC Northern Governor to him to insist that power shifts to the South. At the time, not a few people were of the opinion that Buhari wanted a former Senate President, Dr Ahmed Lawan to succeed. But El-Rufai’s delegation by going public in their support for a Southerner, pulled the rug from the Lawan plan.
He continued by challenging in Court, the sudden redesigning of the Naira which triggered a crunch and denied Nigerians of funds to even eat. El-Rufai felt it was targeted at Tinubu to deny him of funds to run his campaign. So, he and a couple of others went to Court.
Mrs El-Rufai wondered how the President forgot all that, and watch while her husband has remained in detention for months, and indirectly denied bail by giving him very difficult conditions to fulfil. A word from the President, she says, would ease the bail conditions and allow her husband home to take care of his health which she says has depreciated to a frightening low. His blood pressure, she revealed has risen to high heavens and so has his sugar level.
But Mrs El-Rufai alleges that her husband has been denied proper visitation by his doctors, legal team and even family, and wonders where things went this wrong.
She asked the
President to ensure that her husband is treated fairly, and emphasised that the only thing her family expects is justice and respect for his constitutional rights.
Mrs El-Rufai’s comments comes on the heels of
the arrest of the former governor’s personal physician, Prof. Bello Abubakar, on Tuesday by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
She noted that the family’s appeal was not intended to influence ongoing legal proceedings against the former governor or even to prevent any prosecution.
Let prosecution continue she said, but disclosed that the family’s request was for the Government to uphold the constitutional rights guaranteed to every Nigerian citizen – “the right to receive proper medical attention, meet with family members, consult legal representatives, and be granted bail on reasonable terms where applicable.”
The El-Rufai family she explained, is only “seeking fairness and due process in the handling of the matter. We are not requesting any special consideration or political intervention but a legal process which respects the rights guaranteed under the Constitution.”
Every Nigerian, she pointed out, regardless of status, “is entitled to humane treatment and equal protection under the law while any judicial proceedings continue.”
The former Governor is being prosecuted in various Courts by various Government agencies – EFCC, ICPC, DSS.
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