Jonathan's govt plans to arrest me, says El-Rufai

A former minister of the Federal Capital Territory and a leading member of the opposition Congress for Progressive Change, Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged the government plans to arrests him when he returns to Nigeria from London on Thursday.

Mr El-Rufai said via his Twitter handle that two reliable sources in the government had informed him that security agents had concluded arrangements to arrest him at the airport when he returns to the country.

The former minister is scheduled to arrive Nigeria on Thursday via an early morning British Airways flight from London.

He alleged that he is being targeted for harassment and incarceration because of his recent comments on national politics which he said the government perceived as unfavourable.

He said the government plans to arrest him for “exposing their profligacy and genocide,” officially termed “incitement.”

Mr. El-Rufai could not be reached to expatiate on his allegation against the government as calls to his mobile telephone were neither answered nor returned.

But his media consultant, Muyiwa Adekeye, said his client has gotten signals from elements in the administration that the government was uncomfortable with the recent, separate interviews Mr. El-Rufai recently granted PREMIUM TIMES and the BBC.

In the PREMIUM TIMES interview, the former minister predicted that Nigeria might disintegrate before 2015 if the present leadership of the country does not change its ways.

He also said the government had a very low IQ and was incapable of running Nigeria.

In the BBC interview, Mr. El-Rufai accused the federal government of running its own Boko Haram sect with which it was deliberately destabilising the country.

He also alleged that government had been borrowing $1 billion monthly since February 2010 thereby plunging the country into a huge debt trap.

Mr El-Rufai has in the past year assumed the role of Nigeria’s most outspoken opposition leader and has been very critical of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, often backing his criticism with facts.

He has a large social media following and regards himself as “an official rufller of feathers.”

In May 2011, he was arrested by government’s secret police after he published an article about Nigeria’s security budget.

He was questioned and later released the same day.