Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has condemned the arrest of his former commissioner, Jafaru Ibrahim Sani, calling it a politically motivated act by the Kaduna State government.
“Our colleague and versatile former commissioner during the El-Rufai Administration—Mallam Jafaru Sani—has been abducted in Kaduna by Uba Sani’s kidnapping gang claiming to be the police, this afternoon!” El-Rufai alleged in a statement.
Sani, who served as Commissioner for Local Government, Education, and Environment under El-Rufai, was reportedly arrested days after resigning from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and joining the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Sources close to him claimed he was picked up by policemen acting on the orders of the state government.
El-Rufai questioned the legality of the process, stating that Sani was “remanded in prison custody by a magistrate without any police first information report or charges by the State Ministry of Justice.”
He further revealed that upon inquiry, they discovered that Sani was being charged with money laundering, a federal offense outside the jurisdiction of the state judiciary or police.
He alleged that Sani’s “real crime is his resignation from the APC, joining the SDP, and having been proposed as the replacement ministerial nominee representing Kaduna State in August 2023.”
El-Rufai recalled the detention of another former official, Bashir Saidu, stating that the “tactics are similar to those used against another colleague of ours—Bashir Saidu—when he was abducted on December 31, 2024, and kept in captivity for 50 days before he was released on bail!”
He also criticized the judiciary in Kaduna State, saying, “The ignominious role of some henpecked and compromised magistrates and high court judges in the Kaduna State judiciary remains a source of great concern to us,” he stated.
The former governor warned that those behind the alleged persecution would be held accountable. “We are watching and waiting as no condition is permanent, and there will be accountability for all decisions and actions, one day, soon,” he declared, concluding with the phrase “Allah Ya Isa! Allah ya Tsine ma su!”
