Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has criticised former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for surrendering himself to security agencies ahead of his trial, describing the move as a “greatest mistake.”
Dalung made the remarks during an interview with Trust TV published on YouTube on Tuesday, alleging that authorities had initially attempted to arrest El-Rufai at the airport but failed.
“The government is so scared of El-Rufai… they attempted at the airport and it failed and then they realized that trying to arrest him may instigate insurrection,” he said.
He added that El-Rufai’s decision to submit himself to authorities was a misstep, noting that “comrades don’t surrender” during a struggle as it could lead to humiliation.
However, Dalung later offered a different perspective, suggesting that El-Rufai’s action may have denied authorities the opportunity to build a strong case against him.
“What he did was he behaved maturely and responsibly and they played into his trap because surrendering himself earlier denied them the opportunity to frame up charges,” he said.
He further claimed that the trial would not yield results, arguing that its foundation was “built on illegality and not law.”
El-Rufai was re-arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on February 18 shortly after being released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had detained him for two days over corruption allegations.
On Tuesday, the former governor was arraigned over allegations bordering on inflated severance payments and long-term dollar-denominated deposits in his bank accounts.
The charges involve an alleged N579.7 million in inflated severance payments and fraudulent deposits totalling $817,900 in his domiciliary account.
