{"id":197929,"date":"2026-03-28T20:20:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T19:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai"},"modified":"2026-03-28T21:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:30:23","slug":"tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai","title":{"rendered":"Tinubu’s Attempt to Cripple Opposition Through El-Rufai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Senior Political Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Demola Olarenwaju, has alleged that political motives by President Bola Tinubu to silence the opposition is behind the long detention of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai.<\/p>\n

In a statement he posted on X, Olarenwaju claimed that El-Rufai\u2019s release could have been secured earlier, but was delayed due to what he described as efforts to weaken opposition figures.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl-Rufai could have been released long before now but Tinubu\u2019s desperate attempt to cripple opposition forces and Ribadu\u2019s desperate desire to clear future rivals is why APC kept him from DSS to EFCC to ICPC detention while they\u2019re all still looking for evidence to indict him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He further described the timing of El-Rufai\u2019s release, following the death of his mother, as unfortunate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat it took the death of El-Rufai\u2019s mother for him to be released from political detention is a bitter irony because perhaps she may yet be alive if Tinubu and Ribadu did not decide to punish her son politically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Olarenwaju concluded by warning that the situation reflects what could be expected in a potential second term for President Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing future glimpses of a Tinubu 2nd term already,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Senior Political Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Demola Olarenwaju, has alleged that political motives by President Bola Tinubu to silence the opposition is behind the long detention of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai. In a statement he posted on X, Olarenwaju claimed that El-Rufai\u2019s release could have been secured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":197927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-197929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nTinubu's Attempt to Cripple Opposition Through El-Rufai - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senior Political Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Demola Olarenwaju, has alleged that political motive ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tinubu's Attempt to Cripple Opposition Through El-Rufai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senior Political Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Demola Olarenwaju, has alleged that political motive ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-28T19:20:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-28T20:30:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/sm_1774729761.12188.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Tinubu’s Attempt to Cripple Opposition Through El-Rufai\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-28T19:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-28T20:30:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/sm_1774729761.12188.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tinubus-attempt-to-cripple-opposition-through-el-rufai\",\"name\":\"Tinubu's Attempt to Cripple Opposition Through El-Rufai - 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