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A request by African Democratic Congress leaders to see former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai in custody has been rejected by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, which says a court order allows only family members, lawyers and doctors to visit.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission received a letter from the opposition party requesting access to the detained ex-governor, spokesman John Odey told Punch on Saturday.
“Yes, we denied them,” Odey said.
“They wrote to us saying that they wanted to come and visit El-Rufai. They listed those people who came, Aregbesola, Abolaji Abdullahi and others.”
According to Odey, the commission replied to the party on May 21, explaining that the court had limited visitation to three categories of people.
The court allowed access only to “his immediate family members, his legal counsel and his medical doctors”, Odey said.
“We got their letter on the 20th or thereabouts and replied to them on the 21st that they should not come because the court order was specific,” he said.
“The access is limited to the category of his immediate family members, his legal counsel and his medical doctors. Based on the court order, under the circumstances, we are not able to grant them their request to visit.”
But the ADC has accused the ICPC of intimidation, claiming that armed police in three truckloads descended on the commission’s premises during their visit on Friday.
National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said senior party officials, including Rauf Aregbesola and Salihu Lukman, had gone to the ICPC headquarters in Abuja to see El-Rufai.
“Despite prior communication and formal requests, we were denied access without any reasonable explanation,” Abdullahi said in a statement.
He said while they were at the premises awaiting a response to their request, “the atmosphere suddenly became noticeably tense after no fewer than three truckloads of armed police officers arrived at the facility.”
Abdullahi called the heavy deployment “unnecessary and disproportionate” for a peaceful gathering of unarmed political leaders.
El-Rufai, according to the party, is “not a fugitive” but someone who “voluntarily submitted himself to the authorities.”
“Under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is entitled to dignity, medical care, family access, and fair treatment under the law,” Abdullahi said.
He warned that the former governor’s treatment increasingly looked like “punishment by process, intimidation through isolation, and an attempt to break the spirit of a leading opposition figure.”
May 22, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEADC DEMANDS ACCESS TO EL-RUFAI, WARNS ICPC AGAINST FURTHER INTIMIDATION
* 3 TRUCKLOADS OF POLICE OFFICERS ARRIVE AT ICPC AS AREGBESOLA, ABDULLAHI, LUKMAN ATTEMPT TO VISIT EL-RUFAIThe African Democratic Congress (ADC) wishes to express its…
— Bolaji Abdullahi (@BolajiADC) May 22, 2026
Odey rejected claims of intimidation, saying, “No, no, no. They were not harassed. No harassment whatsoever. They were not intimidated.”
He explained that the armed policemen at the gate are a permanent feature of the commission’s security arrangement, not a response to the ADC visit.
“Usually, you know that we have a detachment of mobile policemen at the gate all the time. Sometimes you see their trucks parked there. Those are the things they saw that they said we brought three trailers of police,” he stated.
