Lauretta Onochie, former media aide to the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has called for the immediate release of a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Nasir El-Rufai from detention.

Onochie said El-Rufai’s continued detention under questionable circumstances only shows public suspicion that the machinery of state is being weaponised against opposition figures.

Posting on X, she noted that the voices of opposition must be heard and not silenced.

She wrote: “In every democracy, opposition voices must be challenged with ideas, not silenced with prison walls. When political participation becomes grounds for persecution, democracy itself is placed on trial.

“Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has now spent months in custody over what many Nigerians believe are politically motivated and trumped-up charges.

“Even more disturbing are reports that the path to his freedom comes with political conditions: return to the APC or abandon active politics entirely.

“That is not justice. That is coercion. That is political intimidation dressed up as due process.”

She noted that Nigeria cannot claim to be a democratic nation while dissenting voices are punished for refusing to bow.

Onochie insisted that the right to political association, opposition, and participation is guaranteed in every constitutional democracy.

She maintained that no citizen should have to negotiate freedom in exchange for political surrender.

“If there is a credible case against him, let it be heard openly, fairly, and speedily before a competent court. But continued detention under questionable circumstances only deepens public suspicion that the machinery of state is being weaponised against opposition figures.

“This is bigger than Nasir El-Rufai. It is about the soul of Nigerian democracy. It is about whether citizens are still free to disagree, contest power, and speak without fear.

“Mallam Nasir El-Rufai must be released immediately even if on bail pending the fair determination of his case.

“A democracy that jails opposition voices today may have no opposition left tomorrow. A nation without opposition, is a nation under dictatorship,” she added.