El-Rufai airport drama: DSS denies arrest attempt, confirms passport seizure

The Department of State Services (DSS) has addressed reports surrounding the alleged seizure of former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s passport at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The clarification followed viral claims attributed to El-Rufai’s media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, who alleged that security operatives attempted to arrest the former governor on Thursday upon his arrival from Cairo, Egypt.

In a post on his verified X handle, Adekeye stated that security agents approached El-Rufai as he disembarked from his flight and sought to take him into custody. According to him, the former governor declined to accompany the operatives without a formal invitation.

“Security agents today attempted to arrest Malam Nasir El-Rufai as he arrived on a flight from Cairo. Malam El-Rufai declined to follow them without a formal invitation,” Adekeye wrote.

He further alleged that the operatives seized El-Rufai’s passport during the encounter.

However, a source within the DSS dismissed the claim of an attempted arrest as false and misleading. The source clarified that the agency’s action was limited to confiscating the former governor’s passport in response to a request from an anti-graft agency.

“We only seized his passport in response to a request by an anti-graft agency, so he would honour their invitation,” the source said.

Adekeye, however, maintained that the operatives approached El-Rufai directly as he disembarked and that the passport was taken from one of his aides after he refused to follow them.

The development comes amid recent comments by El-Rufai suggesting he could face arrest by the Federal Government. In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, the former governor alleged that political developments indicated he might be the next target of what he described as intimidation against opposition figures.

El-Rufai, who recently defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), disclosed that four of his associates had been detained.

“Four people we worked with in Kaduna have been arrested; so it is only a matter of time before they come for me too,” he said.

While acknowledging that he had not been arrested, the former governor argued that the detention of his associates suggested possible action against him.

He also alleged that political pressure was being exerted on politicians to defect to the APC or remain within the ruling party, claiming that the current political climate was forcing individuals to act out of political survival rather than conviction.

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