Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has raised concerns over the possibility of his arrest and detention.
A leader in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who was denied ministerial clearance by the Senate in 2023 on failure to pass security screening, has been locked in a war of words with some members of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
In a post on X on Tuesday, El-Rufai, who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 17 July 2003 to 27 July 2007, said his adversaries intended to force him out of the country.
But stated that he has no intention of going into exile.
Responding to a post from X user, Imran Wakili on the alleged plot to arrest and detain him, El-Rufai, who disclosed that he is currently in Egypt, said he would return to the country before 20 February.
He wrote: ‘I will spend more time in Nigeria than ever before.
‘’They have sent such similar messages of intimidation and threats through many of my friends, family and political associates because they want me to go on self-imposed exile.
“I have now put all my previous academic and language-learning plans on hold. Silence is no longer golden. Inaction has never been an option.
‘’The arrest, detention and torture of perceived political enemies are nothing new in human affairs. I have been arrested and detained thrice in the past for expressing my views of previous governments.
‘’There is always a morning after the arrest or detention or torture, and political life continues. As for death, it is when Allah destines it, and it is ultimately the date of every human.
‘For the attention of the pathetic characters that don’t sleep well whenever I am in Nigeria, take notice that I intend to return in time for the launch of Pres IBB’s memoirs, in sha Allah, scheduled for 20th February.
‘We depend on no one but Allah. We fear no mortal but Almighty Allah. We always hope for the best but plan for the worst’.
El-Rufai has since become an ardent critic of the APC government of President Bola Tinubu government
