Fact-check: Did Peter Obi Arrest and Detain Elrufai In 2013 In Anambra?
Claim:
A 1-minutes and 3-second video of the Governor of Kaduna State Malam Nasir Elrufai at an event organized by the Arewa Joint Committee in Kaduna recently emerged on the social media platforms where he claimed that the former Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi, now the presidential candidate of the Labor Party (LP) had arrested him for 48hours in his hotel in 2013 when he (Elrufai) visited the state as an official of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to witness a bye-election for the governorship that year.
Full-Text:
In the video, Elrufai said: “In 2013, I went to Anambra State as an official of the APC to witness the by-election for the governorship. Your next guest Peter Obi was governor. He got me arrested and detained me for 48hours in my hotel room.
“Now, I am the governor of Kaduna State. And he’s coming to Kaduna. In addition to the Police, I have one mechanized division of the Nigerian Army here if need to arrest and detain anyone. But we are northerners. We are civilized. We don’t do things like that.”
El-rufai was as the Deputy National Secretary of APC was in Anambra State to his party’s gubernatorial candidate, Chief Chris Ngige, the current Minister of Labour.
Verification: Following the El-Rufai’s allegation, more facts have emerged.
An old video was posted by a tweeter user showing El-Rufai granting an interview to TV360 Nigeria – an online TV based in Lagos. In the video Elrufai accused – blamed authorities from Abuja for being responsible for his alleged house arrest.
In the video which was also obtained and verified by PRNigeria, El-Rufai said: “I left my hotel room to go and get my breakfast and I was blocked by three SSS officers with AK-47, threatening me that they have a directive from Abuja to restrict me to my room…
“… Under which law does INEC or any other agency of the government can restrict the right of Nigerians to move around…. Freedom of movement is constitutionally guaranteed. Nobody can stop me from moving around.”
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Meanwhile, in denying the claim, Mr Obi Peter said there was no way he could have ordered El-Rufai’s arrest as an All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governor when the then Federal Government was of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with the APC – El-Rufai’s party – being the major opposition with other parties also had a gubernatorial candidate.
“Tell me my power, that I was in APGA — government was PDP and APC. Tell me how an APGA person will issue an order for somebody to be detained. Even I was detained in my local government,” Obi argued his campaign in Kaduna State.
“The only offence I committed is that when they asked me, I said ‘that’s how they treat everybody; that I wouldn’t be in Kaduna on the day of election’. That was the only thing.”
But taking to his verified Twitter handle, El-Rufai insisted that Peter Obi had a hand in his unlawful detention without providing any further evidence.
Conclusion
It is clear from the video interview granted by El-Rufai in 2013 that security operatives under the control of the then PDP-led federal government restricted his movement during an election in Anambra. PRNigeria, therefore, concludes that the claim by Elrufai that Peter Obi as the Governor of Anambra State in 2013 ordered his detention is MISLEADING.
By PRNigeria
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