DSS stopped El-Rufai at Abuja airport. No warrant. No letter. Nothing.

El-Rufai landed from Cairo yesterday. DSS operatives walked straight up to him in the arrivals hall. They had no warrant. No invitation letter. They seized his aide's passport anyway.

He asked to see the warrant. They couldn't produce one. He asked for an invitation letter. Still nothing. His lawyers were already in communication with the EFCC since December, and had formally notified them on Wednesday that El-Rufai would appear voluntarily on Monday morning at 10am. The EFCC confirmed this. They said clearly: our operatives were not involved in the airport incident.

So who sent the DSS? And why, if there was a legal basis for detention, could nobody produce a single document?

Here is what connects the people now in the crosshairs of Nigeria's security apparatus. Abubakar Malami left APC for the African Democratic Congress, was arrested in December, re-arrested by DSS in January on terrorism financing allegations. Nasir El-Rufai left APC for the same party, received an EFCC invitation in December, had his aide's passport seized yesterday. Four of his former Kaduna aides are already in custody.

This is not proof of politically motivated prosecution. The EFCC cases may be entirely legitimate. But the pattern demands the question: why does the anti-graft machinery accelerate precisely when politicians defect to the opposition ahead of 2027?

The larger issue isn't El-Rufai. He has lawyers, supporters, and a platform. The issue is the principle. If security operatives can approach a former governor in a public arrivals hall and seize property without producing a single legal document, what does that mean for everyone without lawyers and supporters and a platform?

El-Rufai reports to EFCC Monday. Watch that closely.