Human rights activist and former Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Anselm Odinkalu has berated Kaduna State High Court judge, Justice Darius Khobo for denying bail to former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai.

El-Rufai is standing trial on an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud, abuse of office and corruption brought by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

CITY LAWYER recalls that there is no love lost between Odinkalu and el-Rufai given their past fiery exchanges, including a phantom prosecution of the rights activist by the el-Rufai Administration.

Odinkalu however described the ruling by the trial judge that el-Rufai will interfere with investigation as a “new low,” saying that “If this were to be the law, #Nigeria’s prisons will be full of former governors, ex-Ministers, & extinguished Senators on pre-trial detention. @OfficialGYBKogi will be behind bars; @OUKtweets will not be in @NGRSenate.”

The full text of Odinkalu’s reaction to the ruling is below.

Darius Khobo, a judge of the Kaduna State High Court, has ruled today denying bail to the #VileLittleMan, @elrufai. The charges are fraud & money laundering. They are clearly bailable.

The judge reportedly claims in his ruling that with his status as a former governor or minister, @elrufai cld interfere with investigation.

That is a new low. If this were to be the law, #Nigeria’s prisons will be full of former governors, ex-Ministers, & extinguished Senators on pre-trial detention. @OfficialGYBKogi will be behind bars; @OUKtweets will not be in @NGRSenate.

I acknowledge that there is a sense of #karma in this matter of @elrufai. These are the kinds of legal & judicial nonsense that Nasir el-rufai as Governor fed to his enemies, real & imagined. Many people will gloat that he is getting a dose of his own medicine.

But I denounced them then because that was not law or justice. I will denounce this again today because it is neither law nor Justice.

What el-rufai did to his critics & opponents was vile #abuseofpower. It had nothing to do with law or justice. What has happened today in the court of Darius Khobo is just as vile. It is equally neither law nor Justice. It is kangaroo.

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