Nasir el-Rufai EFCC probe intensified on Monday as the former Kaduna State governor was grilled at the Abuja headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged N432 billion financial misconduct.
Sources within the anti-graft agency said the ex-governor could spend the night as questioning continues. The investigation centers on loans secured during his 2015–2023 administration, which a Kaduna State House of Assembly committee alleged were mismanaged. El-Rufai has denied wrongdoing, describing the claims as politically driven.
Tension flared outside the EFCC office in Jabi as supporters and critics clashed. Operatives fired teargas to disperse the crowd, and fumes reportedly drifted into the nearby Federal Medical Centre, Jabi. Witnesses said pregnant women and children struggled to breathe as panic spread through hospital corridors.
The Nasir el-Rufai EFCC probe coincides with fresh legal trouble. The Federal Government filed a three-count charge at the Federal High Court, accusing him of unlawfully intercepting the phone communications of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
Prosecutors allege he admitted during a February 13 appearance on Arise TV that he had knowledge of intercepted calls involving the NSA and failed to report it. The charges cite provisions of the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2024 and the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. No arraignment date has been fixed.
El-Rufai, a former FCT minister under Olusegun Obasanjo, earlier claimed security operatives attempted to detain him at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport upon his return from Cairo. He alleged the move was politically motivated.
Opposition figure Umar Sani described the unfolding events as a calculated political battle, saying the former governor has become “the face of the opposition.”
As the Nasir el-Rufai EFCC probe unfolds, political tensions remain high. The EFCC has yet to release an official statement on the protests or the status of the interrogation.
