Onoh Seeks Forgiveness for El-Rufai, writes Tinubu

Former Southeast Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, Denge Josef Onoh, has written to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging him to intervene and halt the legal proceedings against former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

The letter was delivered on Thursday through the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and titled “An Appeal for Compassion and Royal Intervention in the Plight of Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.”

Onoh appealed to the President to prioritize statesmanship over political friction and deploy constitutional mechanisms to grant clemency to the embattled former governor.

The appeal comes amid mounting legal pressure on El-Rufai on multiple fronts in federal courts.

In one case, the Federal High Court in Abuja on September 22 scheduled October 26 for ruling on El-Rufai’s no-case submission in a five-count charge filed by the Department of State Services, DSS, over alleged unlawful interception of telephone communications. El-Rufai has pleaded not guilty.

In a parallel suit filed by El-Rufai against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, challenging the search of his Abuja residence, the court adjourned proceedings to October 27, 2026.

In his letter, Onoh described El-Rufai’s prosecution as a test of the administration’s political maturity. While acknowledging that the former governor is known to be rigid and intensely opinionated, he argued that those same traits drove his loyalty during the 2023 campaign.

“We cannot quickly erase from our memories the immense, foundational role Mallam El-Rufai played in ensuring the victory of the All Progressives Congress and your historic election in 2023,” Onoh stated. 

“I refuse to be enslaved by political influence, nor do I seek political rewards in exchange for keeping a convenient silence while a friend is in need.”

He criticized fair-weather political allies who he claimed had abandoned El-Rufai out of political expediency.

To justify presidential intervention, Onoh cited historical precedents and constitutional provisions, including Julius Caesar’s Roman policy of Clementia and former President Shehu Shagari’s 1982 state pardon of former Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as landmark actions that defused national tension.

He also invoked Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, which grants the Attorney-General of the Federation powers to discontinue criminal proceedings prior to judgment in the interest of public justice, and Section 175, which empowers the President to exercise the prerogative of mercy.

Onoh urged President Tinubu to leverage the provisions to bring the legal matters to an end, describing such a move as an act of political strength rather than weakness.