…alleges assaults on wife, arrest of Doctor at National Hospital
By Sanni Abdullahi
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) of denying former Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai access to medical treatment, and of assaulting his wife and arresting his personal physician during a confrontation at the National Hospital in Abuja on Tuesday.
In a press statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said El-Rufai had been scheduled for treatment at the National Hospital but that ICPC officials insisted on returning him to custody against medical advice that he required hospitalisation due to “failing health.”
According to the party, protests by El-Rufai’s wife and his personal doctor over the decision degenerated into a scuffle. “Protests by his personal physician and his wife led to scuffles during which his wife was assaulted and the doctor subsequently arrested,” the statement read.
The ADC described the incident as part of a broader pattern of conduct by the ICPC and the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that it said “has gone beyond the realm of law enforcement.”
“The actions of the ICPC and the Tinubu government have for months now gone beyond the realm of law enforcement,” Abdullahi said. “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 party went further to label El-Rufai a “political prisoner,” alleging that the President was directly responsible for his continued detention under harsh conditions. “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,” the statement said.
The ADC argued that denying a detainee medical care and restricting access to family members violates both court orders and constitutional guarantees. It noted that courts had previously granted El-Rufai “unfettered access to his lawyers, physician and family members,” and accused the ICPC of acting in “flagrant disobedience” of those orders.
“This is no longer about Mallam El-Rufai alone. It is about whether Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy or has descended into a republic where law enforcement agencies have become instruments of political persecution,” the party said, warning that the precedent could affect any citizen who disagrees with those in power. “Today it is El-Rufai. Tomorrow it could be any Nigerian whose only offence is to disagree with those who wield power.”
The ADC also posed several questions to the anti-graft agency, demanding public accountability. It asked: “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?”
The party further stated that President Tinubu “cannot continue to hide behind anti-corruption agencies while pretending that these actions are independent of his administration,” adding that “under our Constitution, the buck stops with the President.” The ADC linked El-Rufai’s treatment to what it called the government’s failure to address “the grave crises of insecurity, unemployment, inflation, and hunger confronting millions of Nigerians.”
In response, the ADC listed six demands. It called for:
Immediate and unrestricted access for El-Rufai to his wife, children, legal team, and personal medical practitioners.
An urgent review of what it described as “punitive and disproportionate bail conditions,” arguing that bail should secure attendance at trial and not serve as pre-conviction punishment.
An immediate end to “harsh, degrading and unnecessarily restrictive conditions” under which El-Rufai is being held, and his release from what the party termed “a regime of political persecution masquerading as lawful process.”
Full compliance with constitutional guarantees and internationally recognized standards for persons in custody.
Complete transparency from the ICPC on the legal and factual basis for every restriction imposed on El-Rufai.
An immediate end to “the use of state institutions as instruments of political intimidation, vendetta and selective justice.”
As of press time, the ICPC had not issued an official response to the allegations. The National Hospital Abuja also had not released a statement on the incident.
El-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and two-term governor of Kaduna State, has been in the custody of anti-corruption agencies in recent months amid ongoing investigations. His legal team has previously challenged aspects of his detention in court.
The ADC said it will continue to monitor the situation and “stand with every Nigerian whose rights are threatened by the abuse of state power.”
