The legal team of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has demanded the immediate return of his international passport, alleging that security agents acted outside the law in an attempt to detain him. In a statement released on Friday, his lawyer, Ubong Esop Akpan of Ubong Akpan Chambers, called on the officers involved to publicly apologise.

According to the lawyer, the actions taken against the former governor violated his constitutional rights. He stressed that no government agency has unlimited authority to arrest or detain any citizen without following due process as outlined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The statement described the reported move to detain El-Rufai as unnecessary and an abuse of state power. It added that although there had been earlier reports suggesting a possible arrest, El-Rufai voluntarily returned to Nigeria after receiving medical treatment abroad and had expressed readiness to cooperate with any lawful investigation.

The legal team is now demanding an unconditional end to what it termed unlawful actions, the swift return of the seized passport, and a formal apology for what they described as an infringement on the former governor’s rights and dignity. The situation has sparked renewed debate about due process and the limits of state authority.