Okowa Is Innocent Until Proven Guilty by the Court of Law, but El-Rufai Is Guilty Until Proven Innocent by Tinubu

by Mohammed Bello Doka 

Former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, but former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai is guilty until proven innocent by President Bola Tinubu. This is not a slip of the pen. It is the official doctrine of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the operational manual of the anti-corruption agencies under its control.

The case of Okowa is the most brazen testament to the party's selective justice system. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested him in November 2024 over the alleged diversion of a staggering N1.3 trillion in public funds from the 13 percent oil derivation allocation meant for Delta State. The EFCC is also probing the suspected misuse of state resources to acquire luxury properties in Asaba and Abuja, alongside allegations that N40 billion was diverted to purchase equity in a gas company. These are monumental, jaw-dropping figures. Yet, after Okowa defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC in October 2025, the EFCC's investigation went conspicuously silent. The anti-graft agency offers periodic press releases maintaining that the probe remains "active," but no charges have been filed, and no court date has been set. The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has demanded the EFCC explain its deafening silence, asking pointedly whether Okowa’s alleged financial misconduct "has been quietly forgiven on account of political realignment." The answer is clear for all to see. In May 2026, the APC cleared Okowa to run for a senatorial seat, and he won his primary despite the ongoing corruption investigation. This is the literal embodiment of the infamous quote by former APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, who declared at a campaign rally in 2019: "Once you join the APC, your sins are forgiven." Oshiomhole later attempted to blame the media, but the video and audio evidence is indelible. The PDP chairman at the time correctly called the APC a "sanctuary of treasury looters". Today, Okowa is living proof.

Now turn to the treatment of Nasir El-Rufai, a founding father of the APC who had the audacity to admit that his relationship with President Tinubu was like "parallel lines that will never meet." The contrast could not be starker. El-Rufai is currently in the crosshairs of a coordinated barrage from the EFCC, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). In May 2026, the ICPC filed fresh 11-count fraud and money laundering charges against El-Rufai and seven others linked to a botched N10.8 billion CCTV security project in Kaduna. The ICPC alleged that El-Rufai approved the award of an N8.68 billion CCTV contract in December 2015 to a firm that lacked the technical capacity to execute the project. Yet, even as these charges were filed, a series of court orders were being brazenly violated.

El-Rufai has been in custody for over 90 days. A Kaduna State High Court issued a clear order granting him unfettered access to his personal physicians and lawyers while in detention. The ICPC has repeatedly violated that order. On May 15, 2026, El-Rufai’s personal physician arrived at the ICPC facility to discuss medical test results but was denied entry by commission officials. His wife was also prevented from delivering dinner later the same day, adding what the family described as psychological torment to the physical deprivation. In a separate incident, a Federal High Court granted El-Rufai bail, but DSS operatives took him into custody despite two subsisting court orders from a Kaduna court directing that he remain in ICPC custody. El-Rufai resisted, telling his captors: "I am not a furniture to be moved." His wife, Hasiat, recounted that the family lives in constant fear, adding: "Every day we get a threat: DSS is coming to raid your house, ICPC is coming to raid your house, police are coming to raid your house. You are being followed. Our phones are tapped."

El-Rufai’s legal team has gone further, alleging that the ICPC engaged in an "abuse of court process" by obtaining a remand order from a Bwari magistrate court to detain him over money laundering offences, which fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. His lawyers accused the commission of "forum shopping" and "fraudulent misrepresentation to the court." The team further alleged that the commission failed to file charges after the expiration of the initial 14-day remand period, rendering his continued detention unlawful. The family’s demands are clear: El-Rufai’s immediate return to ICPC custody in line with subsisting court orders, restoration of his access to personal physicians, and an end to what they describe as the psychological torment of both the former governor and his family. So far, those demands have been ignored. The rule of law in Nigeria now operates on a sliding scale: a N1.3 trillion suspect who joins the APC walks free, while a former APC governor who criticizes the president is detained and denied even the most basic court-ordered medical care.

This is not justice. This is persecution dressed in the robes of anti-corruption. The architects of this illegality must be warned: the boomerang of selective justice always returns. The northern leaders who keep silent, the senators who pass budgets for these agencies, the friends of El-Rufai who celebrate his humiliation, and even his enemies who relish his fall, none will be immune. The "data boys and girls," the social media foot soldiers who cheer this witch-hunt, will find themselves unprotected when the political winds shift. The hands that wield the sword of the state against El-Rufai today will eventually turn on them tomorrow.

We reject this dangerous formula. Okowa is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, but El-Rufai is guilty until proven innocent by Tinubu. This double standard is a cancer. If Okowa is innocent, let the EFCC clear his name. If El-Rufai is guilty, let a court prove it. But the weaponization of anti-corruption agencies to reward friends and destroy enemies must end. Otherwise, Nigerians will remember this betrayal when the only honest court left in the country is the ballot box.

Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via bellodoka82@gmail.com 

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