Abuja: Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency said Tuesday it was questioning opposition politician Nasir El-Rufai, a prominent critic of President Bola Tinubu.
The authorities launched court proceedings on Monday against El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna state, after he said on Nigerian television he had tapped the phone of Tinubu’s national security adviser.
Local media said he was being questioned about the alleged misuse of 432 billion naira ($319 million) during his stint as governor of Kaduna between 2015 and 2023.
He was summoned to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and appeared voluntarily, EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale told AFP on Tuesday.
“He was invited and he honored the invitation,” Oyewale said. “He is being interviewed now.”
El-Rufai told TV channel Arise News on Friday he had intercepted calls from Tinubu’s aide Nuhu Ribadu, whom he accused of using the security services as his “personal tools.”
He also said the west African country’s domestic intelligence agency, DSS, had tried to arrest him at Abuja airport the day before but he had refused to go with them.
El-Rufai, who recently declared that he was still considering whether to challenge Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, said the anti-corruption commission had “procured the DSS to abduct me for them.”
“This is their modus operandi. They are personal tools of Nuhu Ribadu,” he said.
At the weekend, he posted on X a letter addressed to Ribadu asking the latter to explain an alleged delivery of 10 kilogrammes of thallium sulphate, a highly toxic chemical.
Another senior member of El-Rufai’s opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) party, former justice minister Abubakar Malami, is also facing legal proceedings over allegations of terrorism and money-laundering.
Nigeria govt critic detained by anti-corruption agency
https://arab.news/2khsv
Nigeria govt critic detained by anti-corruption agency
UK granted permission to appeal ruling that Palestine Action ban was unlawful
- London’s High Court ruled this month that the ban was unlawful
- The same court on Wednesday granted Britain’s Home Office interior ministry permission to challenge its ruling
LONDON: The British government was on Wednesday given permission to appeal against a ruling that its ban on pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful.
Palestine Action was proscribed in July, having increasingly taken “direct action” against Israel-linked defense companies in Britain, often blocking entrances or spraying red paint.
Palestine Action was banned shortly after a June break-in at the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton air base, in which activists damaged two planes, an action described by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “disgraceful.”
Lawyers representing Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action in 2020, argued at a hearing last year that the move was an authoritarian restriction on the right to protest.
London’s High Court ruled this month that the ban was unlawful, ruling that it was a disproportionate interference with free speech rights.
The same court on Wednesday granted Britain’s Home Office interior ministry permission to challenge its ruling, saying the ban would remain in place pending the appeal.
The Home Office said it was pleased it could appeal.
“We will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of our citizens,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The ruling earlier this month threw into question the prosecution of hundreds of people who had been charged for holding signs in support of the group, and prompted London’s Metropolitan Police to say it would focus on gathering evidence rather than making arrests.
