The Coalition Political Action Committee warned the Federal Government on Sunday that it must either file formal charges against former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai or release him immediately, saying that continued detention beyond the expired remand order constituted a clear violation of the Nigerian Constitution. Speaking through its leader, Aminu Datti-Ahmed, COPAC said the 14-day remand order obtained by investigators to allow them complete their work had elapsed, and that the order was never intended to serve as a licence for indefinite detention, procedural manipulation, or political theatre. The group framed the matter not as a personal campaign for El-Rufai but as a fundamental question about the equal application of the law, stating that the rule of law must never become a selective weapon wielded against those who fall out of favour with those in power.
COPAC cited Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which guarantees every citizen’s liberty and limits investigative detention to a strictly temporary period that must culminate in either formal charges before a competent court or the unconditional release of the detainee. The group also invoked Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention and require that any deprivation of liberty be strictly governed by law and subject to judicial oversight. Datti-Ahmed said that any action outside these clearly defined legal options would amount to acting illegally and unconstitutionally, rendering the continued detention an abuse of state power and a violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights. El-Rufai has been in detention since 18 February 2026, when he was arrested amid an alleged coup investigation.
Beyond the immediate case, COPAC broadened its critique to address what it described as a disturbing pattern in which state institutions were being deployed against political actors in a manner that raised legitimate questions about selectivity, timing, and motive. Datti-Ahmed called directly on prominent opposition figures — Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Aminu Tambuwal, Rotimi Amaechi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso — to speak out against attempts to harass and clamp down on the opposition, warning that silence at this moment was both dangerous and irresponsible. He said that if those who claimed to stand for democratic accountability failed to raise their voices when a fellow opposition figure was held without charge, their silence would itself become complicity in the erosion of the constitutional order.
