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
Hong Kong plans to buy homes devastated in deadly high-rise fire
HONG KONG: Hong Kong proposes to spend about HK$4 billion ($512 million) to buy out the owners of homes in a high-rise housing complex ravaged by a massive fire that killed more than 160 in November, authorities said on Saturday.
The prices offered will be HK$8,000 per sq. ft. without a land premium payment, and HK$10,500 per sq. ft for those receiving such a payment, officials in the Asian financial hub told a media briefing.
“We believe the proposed price is sufficient for the affected residents to relocate and secure long-term housing,” said Wong Wai-lun, Hong Kong’s deputy financial secretary.
The government also offered an apartment exchange program for the 4,600 affected tenants, who lived in nearly 2,000 housing units at the complex, Wang Fuk Court.
The total outlay, estimated at HK$6.8 billion, will drop by HK$2.8 billion from a contribution by a relief fund, and could go lower still after insurance compensation in factored in, the officials said. ($1=7.8148 Hong Kong dollars)
