Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has attacked the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, saying he can arrest him if he so desires.
El-Rufai was speaking on Monday, October 17, 2022, at the Arewa House where he revealed that he was arrested and detained by the DSS on the orders of then Governor Obi, when he went to observe the 2013 Anambra Governorship by-election.
He said, “In 2013 I went to Anambra State as an official of the APC to witness the by-election for Governorship. Your next guest Peter Obi was governor, he got me arrested and detained for 48 hours in my hotel room.
“Now I am the Governor of Kaduna State and he’s coming to Kaduna.
“In addition to the Police and SSS, I have 1 Mechanized Division Nigerian Army here if I need to arrest and detain anyone. But we are northerners, we don’t do things like that,” he said.
The Genesis
The Quest Times recalls that in 2013, Mallam Nasir El-rufai, then Deputy National Secretary of the APC, was detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) at his Hotel in Anambra.
According to El-Rufai, he was in Anambra to observe the elections but was restricted from leaving his hotel by security agents, who shadowed his every move.
He said; “I arrived in Awka by 7 p.m. on Friday and had a brief session with the APC candidate, Sen. Chris Ngige. When I came out to have my dinner, I saw three heavily armed SSS officers at the hotel.
“I asked them why they were following me; they told me that they were protecting me because Awka is not safe.
“I told them that I came with my own security. This morning, as I was about to have breakfast, they blocked the corridor and tried to restrain me from going out but I pushed by and went to the restaurant to eat.
“After my breakfast, I will be going to the APC Situation Room in town to monitor the election. I am being unlawfully detained here,’’ he said.
Speaking on the development, then-Director of SSS in the state, Mr. A.U. Okeiyi, confirmed the report, saying El-Rufai was being protected.
“El-Rufai is not an ordinary person. If anything happens to him, they will blame the security,’’ he said.
But a then angry Governor Obi chastised El-Rufai, saying he had no business being in Anambra during the elections, further stating that he wasn’t accredited as an election observer by INEC.
“Accredited observers are moving around freely. But I am not sure El-Rufai was accredited by INEC as an observer.
“Like I said before, he has no business or any reason to be in Anambra at this time. All he is doing is dragging the name of Anambra in the mud.
“I can’t go to Katsina and monitor a governorship election. This is a federation. Even if he belongs to a particular party, the party has chieftains in this state and people of the southeast extraction.
“People should know that we have one country and we must build it for our children. El-Rufai has no reason to be in Anambra State.
“Quote me anywhere. I can’t go to Katsina State or Kano or wherever he may come from and go and monitor elections there. He should stay there,” Obi added.