- Safiu Kehinde
Doctor of Former Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has allegedly been arrested after scuffles at the hopsital.
El-Rufai’s wife was also reported to be assaulted by officials of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
This was made known in a statement issued on Tuesday by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi.
According to Abdullahi, clash had ensued between the ICPC officals, El-Rufai, and doctor over the commission’s alleged denial of access to medical care at the hospital.
“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.” Abdullahi wrote
The ADC spokesperson labelled the arrest of the doctor and assault of the former Kaduna governor’s wife as an assault on the constitution.
He accused President Bola Tinubu of holding El-Rufai as a political prisoner in what he described as an authoritarian conduct.
“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.
“The world should know today that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is holding a political prisoner in Nigeria by the name of Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai.
“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.
“Such conduct belongs to authoritarian regimes that use state institutions to break political opponents rather than to uphold justice.” Abdullahi wrote.
The ADC questioned the ICPC over the alleged denial of El-Rufai acces to medical care while accusing Tinubu of hiding behind anti-corruption agencies to criminalise political oppositions.
“The ICPC owes Nigerians immediate explanations. On whose authority was access to his family denied?
“Why has access to his doctor been refused despite concerns about his health?
“What legal basis exists for these actions?
“Why were El-Rufai’s wife and doctor assaulted by the ICPC operatives?
“President Tinubu cannot continue to hide behind anti-corruption agencies while pretending that these actions are independent of his administration.
“Under our Constitution, the buck stops with the President.
“Every day that Mallam El-Rufai remains in custody under these circumstances is another day that Bola Tinubu keeps criminalising political opposition instead of confronting the grave crises of insecurity, unemployment, inflation, and hunger confronting millions of Nigerians.” The party’s spokesperson wrote.
The ADC thereafter highlighted its demands which include immediate and unrestricted access for Mallam El-Rufai to his wife, children, legal team, and personal medical practitioners.
The party also demanded an urgent review of the punitive and disproportionate bail conditions imposed on
El-Rufai, with a view to ensuring that the ICPC conform with the Constitution and the fundamental principle that bail is intended to secure attendance at trial, not to inflict punishment before conviction.
In the same vein, the ADC called for immediate end to what it considered harsh, degrading and unnecessarily restrictive conditions under which El-Rufai is being held and supervised.
The party alsp called for full compliance with all constitutional guarantees and internationally recognised standards governing the treatment of persons in custody.
Other demands include complete transparency from the ICPC regarding the legal and factual basis for every restriction imposed on him and an immediate end to the use of state institutions as instruments of political intimidation, vendetta and selective justice.