Asiya El-Rufai, wife of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, has expressed concern over what she described as the “weaponisation” of healthcare following the arrest of her husband’s personal physician.
She warned that the development could discourage medical professionals from carrying out their duties without fear.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, the lawyer said the arrest of Professor Bello Abubakar, who she described as El-Rufai’s longtime physician, had implications beyond her husband’s ongoing trial.
According to her, healthcare professionals should not be intimidated for offering independent medical opinions, warning that such actions could worsen Nigeria’s medical brain drain.
“The fact that we are weaponising healthcare. If doctors become afraid to offer opinions, what does it say? It’s not about Nasir El-Rufai anymore. It’s about the fact that professionals are being muzzled so that they are afraid to give professional opinions.
“What does this say about our nation? We have been saying that our people are running away to go abroad to be doctors and all that. This is one example of what will make somebody leave,” she said.
Asiya El-Rufai disclosed that authorities had previously taken her husband to specialist eye clinics for treatment of glaucoma but alleged that he had been prevented from consulting his preferred physician.
“That’s quite dicey to say because previously, they’ve taken him to see his eye doctors, the different eye clinics, because he has issues with glaucoma. However, they do not want him to access, I think, this particular doctor. Whatever the reason is,” she said.
She further stated that Bello had served as El-Rufai’s physician for many years.
“They’ve now arrested him. Professor Bello has been mallam’s doctor since mallam was DG, BPE,” she said.
Addressing claims that her husband’s hospital visit was used to hold meetings with political associates, Asiya El-Rufai maintained that the visit was strictly for medical purposes and complied with the court’s directive granting him access to healthcare.
“There’s no court directive, sir. The court directive was very clear: he should have unfettered access to health care. The ICPC is interpreting the order too narrowly.
“What I will say about this is that we requested for 5pm because of the same issue. It will be less busy, there will be less people. They opened the door. Now, after the consultation, they always insist on a report. And that letter, they asked mallam to wait to collect the letter. Mallam was sitting in the reception. There were people already there. Mallam is a prominent person, people come to greet him.
“And so, if in the process, something went wrong, people that they didn’t want to see happened to be there, how do you blame him? A conversation… yeah, he had conversations; in a public place. It’s not as if it was a closed-door meeting. It’s not as if he called somebody to come.
“You informed him at 7pm.He does not have access to a phone. How is it that he arranged to have a meeting with politicians?” she asked.
