Asiya el-Rufai, one of the wives of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, has alleged that political forces are frustrating efforts to meet the bail conditions imposed on “Mallam” in separate cases before the Federal High Courts in Kaduna and Abuja.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, Asiya described the bail conditions as impractical, arguing that they had made it difficult to secure his release despite the offences being bailable under Nigerian law.
According to her, one of the conditions imposed by the Federal High Court in Kaduna required an attestation letter from the Kaduna Traditional Council, which she said the family had been unable to obtain.
“Mallam has been accused of offences in different courts. These charges are clearly bailable offences under Nigerian law. He has applied for bail several times,” she said.
She added that Justice Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Kaduna granted bail on the condition that two sureties provide bail bonds of ₦200 million each and possess properties worth ₦200 million in the Government Reserved Area (GRA) of Kaduna.
“In the Federal High Court in Kaduna, Justice Aikawa granted bail for two sureties, ₦200 million each, with property worth ₦200 million in GRA Kaduna. He also said that the Kaduna Traditional Council must give an attestation. Efforts to get this became impossible. The traditional council would not give that attestation. They gave no reason directly. They just said they were unable to do it,” she said.
Asiya further alleged that the family encountered additional obstacles while attempting to verify property documents required for the bail process.
“When you want to post bail, you have to do property verification and submit the original certificate. Before you submit your original certificate, you need to go to the land registry and verify it. The land registry in Kaduna was shut down at that period. We were stuck in the mud. Every effort to get that became impossible,” she said.
She also criticised the bail conditions imposed by the Federal High Court in Abuja, describing as unrealistic the requirement that a civil servant serving as a surety must own property in either Asokoro or Maitama.
Asiya alleged that the conditions appeared designed to prevent the bail requirements from being fulfilled, thereby prolonging the detention of the defendant.
