Peter Obi Keeps Mum On El-Rufai’s Allegation Of Arrest, Intimidation

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has kept mum on the allegation made by Governor Nasir  El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Monday.

Naija News reports that El-Rufai, at an interactive session organised by the Arewa Joint Committee, claimed that he was arrested and detained for 48 hours in Anambra State in 2013 on the orders of Obi who was the then Governor of the state.

The governor stated that he was arrested when he visited Anambra on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to monitor the state’s governorship bye-election.

Governor El-Rufai, however, said he now has all the security architecture at his disposal now that the LP candidate is in his state for consultations.

El-Rufai noted that he has all the mechanisms to arrest and detain anyone if he wished, but that he is civilized and would not do such.

He had said, “In 2013, I went to Anambra State as an official of the APC, to witness the bye-election for the governorship. Your next guest, Peter Obi, as governor got me arrested and detained for 48 hours in my hotel room.

“Now I’m the governor of Kaduna State and he’s coming to Kaduna. In addition to the police and the SSS, I have one Mechanized division of the Nigerian Army here if I need to arrest and detain anyone. But we are northerners, we are civilized. We don’t do things like that. I wish you all a safe journey back to your destinations.”

Recall that Obi had in 2018 said El-Rufai was being overzealous by accusing him of bigotry given the circumstances that led to his arrest.

However, as of the time of filing this report, the LP presidential flagbearer has yet to react to the allegation made by the Kaduna governor.