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Security agents seize El-Rufai’s passport after a dramatic standoff at Abuja airport, escalating the political war between the former governor and the federal government.

The simmering political vendetta in Nigeria’s capital has exploded into open confrontation. [...](asc_slot://start-slot-3)In a high-stakes standoff at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has physically resisted an attempt by security operatives to arrest him, turning a routine arrival into a test of the rule of law.
The incident occurred moments after El-Rufai disembarked from a flight from Cairo, Egypt. According to his media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, a team of security agents—believed to be from the Department of State Services (DSS)—swarmed the former governor on the tarmac. However, El-Rufai, a veteran of Nigeria’s bruising political trenches, refused to be cowed. Demanding a formal warrant or invitation, he stood his ground, creating a spectacle that left the operatives with no option but to resort to the petty seizure of his international passport before retreating.
This botched arrest is not an isolated event; it is the climax of a months-long campaign of encirclement. El-Rufai has previously sounded the alarm, claiming that the Tinubu administration is systematically targeting his inner circle to muzzle his influence. "They snatched his passport from an aide," Adekeye confirmed, a detail that exposes the desperation of the operatives. By seizing his travel documents, the state has effectively placed the former governor under open-air house arrest, stripping him of his freedom of movement without the inconvenience of a court order.
The standoff at the airport reveals the fragile nature of the current political alliances in Abuja. El-Rufai, once a kingmaker who helped deliver the Northern vote, is now treated as a pariah. His refusal to "follow them quietly" breaks the unwritten rule of Nigerian VIP arrests, where the target usually submits to save face. By creating a scene, El-Rufai has forced the security agencies into the sunlight, challenging them to produce a legal basis for their harassment.
The ramifications of this confrontation will ripple far beyond the tarmac of Abuja. El-Rufai remains a potent political force in the North West, and his public humiliation by federal agents risks alienating a critical voting bloc. The seizure of the passport is a clear provocation, a signal that the gloves are off. It is a classic tactic of the Nigerian security apparatus: if you cannot jail the man, you ground him.
As El-Rufai retreats to his Abuja residence, sans passport but with his liberty temporarily intact, the capital holds its breath. This was not just an attempted arrest; it was a declaration of war. The former governor has drawn a line, refusing to be intimidated by the "orders from above." The question now is whether the state will escalate with a raid, or if this airport standoff was merely a warning shot across the bow of one of Nigeria’s most unpredictable politicians.
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