El-Rufai has been held for 20 days without charges. He should know exactly how this works.

The ICPC is holding former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai without charges. The 14-day remand order that authorised his detention expired on March 5. No charges have been filed in any competent court. His family says the continued detention is illegal. Yesterday, a cross-party coalition called COPAC issued a formal constitutional warning: charge him or release him immediately, citing Section 35 of the Nigerian Constitution.

They're right. What's happening to El-Rufai appears to be unlawful.

Now hold that thought.

El-Rufai spent eight years as Kaduna State governor. His record includes demolishing thousands of Abuja homes while serving as FCT minister despite court orders, detaining critics, and using security agencies against political opponents. He invoking Section 35 constitutional protections from a cell is — and you're allowed to feel this — extraordinary.

Both things are true simultaneously: this detention looks unconstitutional, and El-Rufai built parts of the infrastructure being used against him.

COPAC named Atiku, Peter Obi, Amaechi, and Kwankwaso as opposition leaders who must speak out. None have, loudly. Because in Nigeria, speaking for a political opponent's rights is read as taking their side. So constitutional principles get applied selectively — just like El-Rufai applied them selectively.

The system that protected him from accountability for eight years is the same system now holding him without charge. The person with no lawyers, no coalition, no international profile, and no political history — they've always lived in this system. El-Rufai is just visiting.