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• May be arraigned for sedition on Monday
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who was arrested yesterday mornng by the State Security Service (SSS) operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, was released late last night.
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| ex-Minister elrufai |
“They accosted me on my return to the country, took my phone, interrogated me, and held me incommunicado for many hours. You can speak to me now because I am back in my house,” he told our correspondent early this morning in Abuja.
He declined to speak further on his release. But there are indications that he may be arraigned on Monday for alleged sedition.
The ex-Minister had travelled to the United Kingdom with the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, for a symposium at Chatham House in London on the last general elections.
El-Rufai was reportedly arrested in the presence of his wife, Hajiya Hadiza, and a friend who came to welcome him.
El-Rufai was reportedly arrested in the presence of his wife, Hajiya Hadiza, and a friend who came to welcome him.
Former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, condemned the arrest, describing it as a brazen act of intimidation, harassment and flagrant violation of citizen's rights in a democratic atmosphere.
According to him, the arrest signified that "there are more people in our country who know how to win by hook and crook than those who know how to make proper use of their 'victory'".
However, a source close to the intelligence community told The Nation on Sunday that the former minister was arrested for writing inciting articles in the media.
However, a source close to the intelligence community told The Nation on Sunday that the former minister was arrested for writing inciting articles in the media.
According to the source, “The ex-Minister may have a case to answer for allegedly inciting the military against the government. Both at Chatham House and in his column on (This Day newspapers) Friday, el-Rufai allegedly tried to mislead readers with false figures by claiming that the National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi will control and spend N208billion this year to manage the nation’s security.
“He also said that the NSA, the Police and Defence will spend combined votes of N865billion.”
The said offensive aspect in el-Rufai’s column reads in part: “An interesting observation is the fact that the government said the problem of power shortage is a priority, yet the Ministry of Power got N91billion as total appropriation in 2011 while the National Security Adviser(NSA) controls and will spend N208billion(recurrent-N51billion, capital-N59billion, and another N98billion for the amnesty programme!)
The said offensive aspect in el-Rufai’s column reads in part: “An interesting observation is the fact that the government said the problem of power shortage is a priority, yet the Ministry of Power got N91billion as total appropriation in 2011 while the National Security Adviser(NSA) controls and will spend N208billion(recurrent-N51billion, capital-N59billion, and another N98billion for the amnesty programme!)
“This amount does not include the Defence budget. The Defence Ministry will get N348billion, while the Police will get N309billion. In other words, though Nigerians have never felt so insecure in recent history, the NSA, Police, and Defence will spend a combined N865billion-more than N2billion a day, weekends included! This does not include the 36 states’ so-called security votes.”
The reliable source in the SSS, who spoke in confidence, said: “We picked him up because he wrote lies. In the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill 2011 passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives on May 25 and signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on May 26, 2011, the Intelligence Community got a total allocation of N109,855,099,466 (approximated to N109.855bilion) which splits as follows: the Office of the National Security Adviser – N40,846,937,023; Directorate of State Security (that is the SSS) – N23,452,705,993; National Intelligence Agency – N27,720,580,338; and the Presidential Air Fleet –N17,834,876,113. “So where did el-Rufai get his N208billion? Even then, all the funds due to Intelligence Community are controlled by the Permanent Secretary (Social Services) in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
“When did Amnesty Programme become part of Intelligence Community whose votes are being managed by the National Security Adviser? It is very wrong and inciting to manufacture figures and present them as truth because you lost out somewhere and suddenly realised you should become relevant by writing a column in a newspaper. He is certainly appearing in court on Monday.”
A formal statement by the SSS by its Assistant Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, confirmed that el-Rufai was arrested over inciting articles. The statement said: “At 0500 hours of 2nd July, 2011, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was intercepted on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“This became necessary following Mallam el-Rufai’s recent articles in the cyber and print media which have been considered by well-meaning Nigerians to be inciting, inflammatory and grossly misleading. For instance, his column on the back page of This Day newspaper of July 1, 2011, titled “What Nigeria Pays FG” clearly attests to this.
“It is pertinent to note that the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI BILL) has been passed into law, yet he refused to cross check his facts before publishing. He rather chose to misinform the public with mischievously orchestrated data with the intent of causing disaffection among the populace thereby subverting Government.
“It is expected that the former minister should have been more circumspect against the backdrop of current security challenges in the country. Nigeria belongs to all of us and no one should take laws into their hands as no one is above the law.”
But in a statement, the media consultant to the former minister, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, said the SSS had made el-Rufai incommunicado. In the statement he said: “Mallam Nasir el- Rufai was this morning arrested at Abuja airport as he arrived from London aboard a British Airways flight. SSS operatives later whisked him to their headquarters where he was hauled before their Director-General.
“All efforts to establish contacts with him have since proved abortive and the SSS has given no word to his family and lawyers who have kept vigil.”
On the fact that the former minister’s arrest might be due to his newspaper column, Mr. Adekeye said, “This figure is in the 2011 Appropriation Act which is a public document. Bringing information in the public domain to the people cannot by any stretch of the imagination be a crime even if it embarrasses security chiefs who, on the evidence of insecurity in the land, are not delivering value despite securing tidy budgetary allocations! If the facts in el-Rufai’s article, ‘What Nigerians pay FG’, are wrong in fact or context, that cannot be remedied by a denial of liberty.
The government should simply publish its alternative narrative, and let the public decide. Mallam el-Rufai has not done anything illegal by encouraging discourse about what our government costs us.
He has been outspoken about his concerns regarding the direction the current government is taking this country, and he has written critical pieces on this matter on Nigerian and international media platforms. Free speech is a constitutional right, and it implies the obligation by the state to defend even those whose views are not congruent with the powers that be.”
He described the arrest of his client as a resort to “arm-twisting and harassment,”which should not be in a democracy.”
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