Security agents attempt to arrest El-Rufai, seize his passport at airport
Muyiwa Adekeye, Media Adviser to former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that security agents attempted to arrest the former governor on Thursday. The incident reportedly occurred shortly after El-Rufai arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on a flight from Cairo, Egypt.
According to a statement released by Adekeye, the operatives approached El-Rufai and sought to take him into custody as he disembarked. The former governor reportedly refused to follow the agents, citing the lack of a formal invitation or a valid warrant for his arrest.
Adekeye claimed that during the ensuing confrontation, the security personnel forcibly took El-Rufai’s international passport from one of his aides. The media adviser described the encounter as a direct attempt to detain the former governor without following due legal process.
The full statement from Adekeye reads: “Security agents today attempted to arrest Malam Nasir elrufai as he arrived on a flight from Cairo. Malam El-Rufai declined to follow them without a formal Invitation. They however snatched his passport from an aide.”
This development follows earlier warnings from El-Rufai, who had previously alerted the public that he expected a politically motivated arrest upon his return to the country. He has recently been vocal in his criticism of the current administration and its handling of electoral reforms.
His legal team has since condemned the airport incident, describing it as a “flagrant violation of constitutional rights” and an act of executive overreach. They maintained that El-Rufai had already committed to honoring a standing invitation from the EFCC on Monday, February 16, 2026.
Despite the attempted arrest, El-Rufai was eventually allowed to leave the airport with his supporters, though his passport remains in the custody of the authorities. The security agencies involved have yet to issue an official statement regarding the grounds for their actions at the airport.
