El-Rufai In Detention — And The Deafening Silence Of The North

By Boniface Uzoma Chilaka

Something strange is happening in Nigeria. A former governor, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has been held for weeks by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.

Yet the most powerful voices of the North are silent.

No outrage.

No press conferences.

No emergency meetings.

The usually vocal Arewa Consultative Forum has barely cleared its throat.

For a region that has historically moved swiftly to defend its political heavyweights, the quiet is not just surprising – it is deafening.

Let us be clear: if El-Rufai committed any crime, he should face the full weight of the law. No former governor should be immune from investigation.

But here is the uncomfortable question nobody seems willing to ask:
If there is a case against him, why is he not already in court?

Nigeria’s laws are simple. Investigate. File charges. Prosecute.

Detention without swift prosecution begins to look less like justice and more like political intimidation.

This is not about liking El-Rufai or agreeing with his politics.

Admitted some Nigerians are opposed to his politics for reasons best known to them.

But the rule of law is not designed to protect only the people we like.

It exists precisely to protect those we disagree with.

When a man can be held while the state searches endlessly for evidence, justice stops looking like justice.

It begins to look like power flexing its muscles.

And that brings us back to the North.

Where are the elders?

Where are the governors?

Where are the moral guardians who routinely lecture the nation about fairness and national balance?

Is this silence loyalty to power?

Or quiet satisfaction that a once-dominant political figure has fallen out of favour?

Either way, the message is disturbing.

Because when regional institutions like the Arewa Consultative Forum go silent in moments like this, they send a dangerous signal – that principle depends on who is involved.

If the anti-corruption agencies truly have evidence, they should present it before a judge tomorrow morning.

If they do not, then holding a former governor indefinitely begins to look like something Nigeria has seen too many times before:
Politics disguised as law enforcement.

Today it is El-Rufai.
Tomorrow it could be anyone.

And when that day comes, silence will no longer be an option.

Boniface Uzoma Chilaka
uzomachilaka463@gmail.com