Asiya el-Rufai, one of the wives of Nasir el-Rufai, has alleged that political interests are behind the continued detention of the former Kaduna governor, insisting that the bail conditions imposed by the courts are deliberately difficult to satisfy.

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, Asiya described the bail terms granted to the former Nasir el-Rufai and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as impractical, saying the family has encountered numerous obstacles in its efforts to secure his release.

She explained that one of the conditions imposed by the Federal High Court in Kaduna requires an attestation letter from the Kaduna Traditional Council, but the council has refused to issue the document without offering any explanation.

"Mallam has been accused of offences in different courts. These charges are clearly bailable offences under Nigerian law. He has applied for bail several times," she said.

"In the Federal High Court, he was granted bail with terms that are not viable. In the Federal High Court in Kaduna, Justice Aikawa granted bail with two sureties of ₦200 million each, backed by properties worth ₦200 million in GRA Kaduna.

"He also said that the traditional council in Kaduna State must provide an attestation. Efforts to obtain this became impossible. The traditional council would not issue the attestation. They gave no reason directly; they simply said they were unable to do it."

Asiya said the family also faced another hurdle when the Kaduna State Land Registry was shut down, preventing the verification of property documents required to perfect the bail conditions.

"When you want to post bail, you have to verify the property and submit the original certificate. Before submitting the original certificate, you need to go to the land registry for verification.

"The land registry in Kaduna was shut down during that period. We were completely stuck. Every effort to complete the process became impossible," she said.

She also faulted the bail conditions imposed by the Federal High Court in Abuja, noting that one of the required sureties must be a civil servant who owns property in either Asokoro or Maitama, two high-value districts in the nation's capital.

According to her, even where qualified civil servants exist, many are unwilling to stand as sureties because of the intense scrutiny they could face.

"I don't want to speculate, but as a Nigerian and as human beings, I don't think it is wrong to say that there must be some politics going on," she added.

Asiya maintained that her husband voluntarily returned to Nigeria to honour invitations from law enforcement agencies, arguing that if he intended to evade trial, he would have remained outside the country.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is prosecuting Nasir el-Rufai on separate criminal charges before the Kaduna High Court and the Federal High Court in Kaduna, while the Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting the former governor before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of unlawful wiretapping.