How ICPC Asked DSS To Arrest Me At Abuja Airport – Nasir El-Rufai [Video]

Former Kaduna state governor Nasir el-Rufai has claimed that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him when he returned to Nigeria.

The incident happened on Thursday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after El-Rufai arrived from Cairo, Egypt.

According to his media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, security officials approached him shortly after he got off the plane.

However, he refused to follow them because they did not present any formal invitation or official document.

In an interview with the BBC on Friday, El-Rufai said DSS operatives met him on arrival and told him they wanted him to come to their office for a meeting.

He said he asked them to show him a written invitation, but they told him they would provide it outside the airport.

The ex-governor also claimed that about 50 security personnel were present at the airport because of him.

“We walked towards the immigration counter and they (DSS operatives) said I should give them my passport for them to go and do…. I said, ‘no, I always do my immigration biometrics’. I went there, did that and walked out,” he said.

“Two more senior people came and said they are from the DSS and they wanted me to go to their office. I didn’t know whether they have an office at the airport or they meant the headquarters.

“All I asked for is a courtesy of a letter of invitation. That is what I believe I am entitled to as a Nigerian. They did not have a letter.

“Subsequently, we learnt that it was ICPC that procured the DSS to do the abduction. I was supposed to be abducted by the DSS and taken to ICPC.”

Responding to critics who questioned why he is afraid of being arrested, el-Rufai said his concern was not about arrest itself but about tyranny and undemocratic actions.

“I’m afraid of tyranny, undemocratic practices and people that don’t understand that in a democracy, the executive is not all-in-all,” the former governor said.

“There is a legislature that should be allowed to function, which has not been allowed to function. There is a judiciary that is supposed to be independent, which is being procured and weaponised against the opposition.”

Watch the video below:

I was supposed to be abducted by the DSS and taken to ICPC – @elrufai

Here is the English version of my interview with former Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, where he narrated what happened when security officials attempted to take him with them at the airport. pic.twitter.com/t7dvKet441

— Maishanu (@Mss_Deeynah) February 13, 2026

Before returning to Nigeria, Nasir El-Rufai had suggested that he might face what he called a politically motivated arrest.