Activist Calls for Review of El-Rufai's Bail Conditions

Activist Wala has expressed strong opposition to the stringent bail conditions placed on former Kaduna Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai, demanding a review of these measures. Wala's statement, made in Abuja, follows a public declaration by Mazi Afam Osigwe, the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who criticized the excessive conditions that effectively imprison El-Rufai.

The bail terms require multiple sureties from federal civil servants at grade level 17 and demand original certificates for properties worth hundreds of millions of naira, which Wala described as an insurmountable barrier to freedom. He emphasized that such conditions reflect a dangerous trend in the judicial system, where pre-trial incarceration is increasingly used as a punitive measure.

Wala condemned the actions of law enforcement agencies as a violation of constitutional rights, urging the government to address biases within the judicial process and to stop treating unconvicted citizens as if they were already convicted.