The former governor of Kaduna State and ex-member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused the state government under Governor Uba Sani of orchestrating the arrest of his political ally, Jafaru Sani.
In a statement released on Thursday, El-Rufai described the arrest as an abduction, claiming that Jafaru Sani, a former commissioner in El-Rufai’s administration, was detained by a group masquerading as police officers. “Our colleague and versatile former commissioner during the El-Rufai Administration – Mallam Jafaru Sani, has been abducted in Kaduna by Uba Sani’s kidnapping gang claiming to be the police, this afternoon,” El-Rufai said.
He further revealed that Sani was remanded in prison custody by a magistrate without a police first information report or charges filed by the state Ministry of Justice. El-Rufai labeled the arrest an abduction and alleged that Sani was being charged with money laundering, a federal offense that, according to him, the state judiciary and police have no jurisdiction to investigate or adjudicate.
El-Rufai also connected Sani’s arrest to his recent resignation from the APC and subsequent joining of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). “Jafaru’s real crime is his resignation from the APC, and joining the SDP – and having been proposed by him as the replacement ministerial nominee representing Kaduna State in August 2023,” El-Rufai stated.
The former governor expressed further concern over the involvement of what he termed “henpecked and compromised magistrates and high court judges in the Kaduna State judiciary.” He also referenced the case of another political ally, Bashir Saidu, who El-Rufai claimed was abducted on December 31, 2024, and kept in captivity for 50 days before being released on bail.
Sani, who was a commissioner under El-Rufai’s administration, resigned from the APC shortly after El-Rufai defected to the SDP in protest against what he described as the ruling party’s abandonment of its founding principles. El-Rufai has since vowed to form alliances with opposition parties to challenge the APC in the 2027 elections.
