Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has threatened legal action against The Nation newspaper over a report linking an alleged attack on the home of a prosecution witness to his ongoing corruption trial.
In a statement issued on Sunday by his media adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai said the newspaper’s April 18 report, headlined “El-Rufai’s trial: Gunmen invade principal witness home,” contained false imputations aimed at damaging his reputation and influencing pending court proceedings.
Adekeye said El-Rufai had no connection to the incident and had instructed his lawyers to begin defamation proceedings against the newspaper. He accused unnamed actors of trying to smear the former governor, frustrate his bail efforts and keep him in detention.
The statement said the former governor was nearly arrested on arrival at Abuja airport from Cairo on February 12, honoured an EFCC invitation on February 16, and was later transferred to ICPC custody on February 18. Reports in February said El-Rufai was detained by the EFCC and then re-arrested by the ICPC after being released on bail by the anti-graft agency.
El-Rufai has since been facing separate corruption cases in Kaduna. A Federal High Court in Kaduna granted him bail on April 14 in one of the cases, although proceedings in other matters are still ongoing.
In its report, The Nation said Mohammed Umar Karage, described as a principal witness in one of the criminal cases against El-Rufai, told police that armed men invaded his residence. The paper said Karage linked the incident to his role in the trial and suggested it might be an attempt to silence him.
Adekeye rejected the suggestion and described it as a calculated attempt to associate El-Rufai with serious crimes without evidence. He said the former governor had been subjected to a sustained campaign of vilification since 2023.
He also called for respect for El-Rufai’s constitutional rights, saying legal processes should not be used as instruments of oppression or to deny a defendant liberty while standing trial.
