The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has raised concerns over the ongoing prosecution of former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, stating that recent developments in the public domain suggested an extraneous and underlying religious bias against him.

This followed the recent remarks by the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (rtt), on the violence in Southern Kaduna during the former governor’s administration.

While el-Rufai’s family has given Musa seven days to substantiate or retract and apologise for his claim that the former governor planned the killings in Southern Kaduna, el-Rufai’s lawyers have demanded N10 billion in damages over the alleged defamatory statements.

However, the NSCIA Secretary-General, Prof. Is-haqOloyede, said the council had deliberately stayed away from the controversy because it initially considered el-Rufai’s prosecution a standard judicial process and trusted the judiciary to uphold justice.

Nevertheless, it stated that recent developments “have raised serious concerns that strongly suggest an extraneous involvement of an underlying religious bias against the former governor.”

Consequently, it called on the executive and the judiciary to ensure that individuals with vested religious interests were prevented from weaponising public institutions or the legal system to execute a sectarian agenda against el-Rufai.

The council further appealed to Nigerians to refrain from incendiary comments that could prejudice the former governor’s fair trial or worsen the country’s security situation.