Ex-Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has appealed to world leaders, including United States President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, to intervene in his continued detention and push for his release.
El-Rufai made the appeal in a post on his X handle on Friday, where he alleged that he was being persecuted for speaking truth to power.
The former governor said he had spent exactly 256 days in detention, insisting that his continued incarceration violated his fundamental rights.
“Today, exactly 256 days El-Rufai is in detention. Human rights not a favour, a fair trial is not an act of mercy. It is not a privilege. It is a fundamental human right,” he wrote.
His appeal came days after the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed his no-case submission in a case involving allegations that he participated in the alleged phone-tapping of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
El-Rufai is also facing investigations by the anti-corruption authorities over an alleged N432 billion money-laundering case following a petition by the Kaduna State House of Assembly. 
The former governor has been in detention since February 18, although he was briefly released in March to attend his mother’s funeral.
El-Rufai has consistently denied wrongdoing and maintained that the cases against him are politically motivated.
