By Ismail Auwal
The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has denied ordering the arrest and detention of Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, visited Anambra State several years ago.
In his defense, the former Anambra governor described the governor’s remark as reckless and inappropriate in public.
“What His Excellency, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai said about me has been brought to my attention. I believe that as we grow older and are saddled with more responsibilities, we are expected to become circumspect in our thinking and avoid recklessness in our speeches and utterances.
“How does the circumstance he referred to relate to bigotry, to warrant such a label?
Obi said it was impossible for him at the time to order agents of the State Security Service (SSS) from Abuja to arrest Mr El-Rufai.
“The police commissioner that was there then was from Adamawa State, and the AIG was from Nasarawa. The GMD that was planning for that election was from Kano. There’s no way I could have done that.
“My chairman, I never asked anyone to arrest you. As Governor of Anambra State, I have the first APC best policeman in Nigeria, and he is from Kano, so where will I give the order and tell a man who lives in my house every day that I want to deal with his people, and he will say yes?”
“I was in APGA during the elections in 2010 (2013), the ruling party was PDP, how can I instruct the PDP in Abuja to detain anybody, even me as state governor was detained in my own local government,” Mr Obi said.
El-Rufai, at an interactive session organised by Arewa Joint Committee in Kaduna on Monday, had earlier claimed to have been detained nine years ago in Anambra for 48 hours on the orders of Obi, the then governor of the state.
“In 2013, I went to Anambra State as an official of the APC to witness the bye-election for governorship. Your next guest, Peter Obi, as governor, got me arrested and detained for 48 hours in my hotel room,” the Kaduna governor claimed.
Now as a sitting governor, Mr El-Rufai said he has all the security power to deal with the LP candidate but he would not do so because of his northern background.
