126 days in detention and counting — El-Rufai's sham trial exposed

Yesterday marked day 126 of Nasir El-Rufai's detention. Paul Ibe, Atiku Abubakar's media aide, posted on Facebook that the former Kaduna governor's trial is a sham. Ibe wrote that the Tinubu-led APC administration is harassing El-Rufai simply for defecting from the party to the ADC. He said the bail conditions are so punitive they are meant to keep him in detention permanently, and that the adjournment to September suggests Tinubu wants him locked up until after the 2027 elections.

Let me be clear — I am no fan of El-Rufai. The man has his own baggage from his time as governor. But 126 days in detention? With bail conditions that no reasonable person can meet? That is not justice. That is political persecution dressed in judicial robes. And when Paul Ibe says the bail conditions only encourage civil servants to loot while in service because they see that assets acquired during tenure are what keep you alive, he is not wrong. The message is clear — steal while you can because the system will use the law to destroy you anyway.

So I ask the legal community and everyone watching this — at what point does due process become a weapon? If El-Rufai can be held for 126 days on bail conditions designed to fail, what hope does the ordinary Nigerian have? The judiciary must answer for this.