El-Rufai blasts police over ban on ADC meeting, vows legal action

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday lashed out at the police for stopping a scheduled meeting of African Democratic Congress (ADC) leaders in the state, describing the move as unconstitutional and a dangerous precedent for democracy.

The meeting, according to El-Rufai, was meant for ADC’s North-West leadership to commiserate with members over last Saturday’s violent attack on an opposition gathering in Kaduna.

During that incident, suspected thugs stormed the inauguration of a transition committee involving a coalition of opposition parties, injuring several people and destroying property, while police were accused of doing little to stop the violence.

Addressing journalists at his private residence in Kaduna, El-Rufai accused the police of overstepping their authority by obtaining a court injunction to halt Thursday’s meeting without properly serving the affected parties.

“He knows what he’s writing violates the Constitution,” El-Rufai said, referring to the state police commissioner. “This morning, he invited the national vice chairman, North-West, and waved a piece of paper claiming they had obtained a court order stopping us from having that meeting. We have not seen the court order. It has not been properly served on us.”

The former governor said party leaders chose to respect the police commissioner’s position to avoid confrontation, even though they had the constitutional right to assemble.

“As responsible leaders, we had the choice of going there to have our meeting. Nobody can stop us; we are within our constitutional rights. But we decided that even though we have not seen the order, we believe the commissioner of police. Because we don’t believe the commissioner of police could be lying,” he explained.

El-Rufai added that the briefing was held at his private home to prevent a clash with security agencies, disclosing that he had not lived there for 15 years due to renovations.

He, however, vowed that the matter would not end there, hinting at possible legal action.

“We want to see that injunction, we want to see the grounds, and of course, we will challenge whatever grounds to the Supreme Court. This is not the end of it. Other things will follow after this,” he said.

Efforts to reach Kaduna Police Command’s spokesperson, DSP Mansir Hassan, for comments were unsuccessful as calls and messages were unanswered.