Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, has said the recent detention of former Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Chairman Danladi Umar, ex-Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, and ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has shown that power is transient.
He noted that only a few people would believe that the trio could indeed be detained.
Naijaonpoint reports that Odinkalu shared his thoughts in a post on 𝕏.
According to him, supporting injustice against perceived opponents often creates precedents that can later ensnare those who once benefited from them.
He wrote, “If you told anyone at the beginning of 2023 that Danladi Umar, @aamalamiSAN, & @elrufai will all be in judicially-sanctioned administrative detention in #Nigeria, the person could have pronounced you mad, & justifiably too.
“But here we are.
“The terrible thing about supporting injustice is the precedent you gloat at because it afflicts your enemy can come back to ensnare you.
“Power is transient &, for those abusing it today, No condition is permanent.”
Meanwhile, former presidential adviser, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has described El-Rufai, as a political prisoner, following his continued detention.
Baba-Ahmed, in a post shared on his 𝕏 account, said the controversy surrounding El-Rufai’s detention had gone beyond the state’s insistence on keeping him in custody without trial or conviction.
He argued that the development was damaging public confidence in the rule of law and undermining accepted standards of justice and fairness.
Baba-Ahmed wrote, “Nasir el-Rufai’s saga is assuming a character far bigger than the determined insistence by the State that he must remain locked up, without being tried and/or sentenced.”
Baba-Ahmed maintained that keeping the former governor in detention without due legal process sent a dangerous signal about respect for the law.
He added, “It is making a mockery of the rule of law and all standards of decency. El-Rufai is now a political prisoner.”
Naijaonpoint reports that Baba-Ahmed’s stand comes after members of El-Rufai’s family appealed to the Tinubu administration over the former governor’s continued detention.
El-Rufai’s first wife, Hajiya Asiya, had said the family did not deserve the treatment being meted out to them, noting that they supported and campaigned for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2023 general elections.
