Group Raises Alarm Over Alleged Plot To Arrest Atiku, Amaechi, Aregbesola, Others

A civil society group has raised the alarm over an alleged coordinated plan to arrest and detain prominent opposition figures.

In a statement released on Tuesday in Abuja, the group, through its coordinator, Adekunle O. Adebayo, alleged that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai have been marked for arrest.

The pro-Yoruba group, operating on the platform “Bí a bá pa ìtàn mọ́, ìtàn á pa wa” (When truth is suppressed, it eventually destroys those who suppress it), further claimed that former Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola, former Minister of Communications Isa Ali Pantami, Kashim Ibrahim Imam, and other notable political figures are also being targeted.

According to the statement, the alleged plan follows earlier arrests and detentions of former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, former Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, and former Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige.

The group alleged that the arrests are linked to a covert, multi-agency security directive purportedly coordinated from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and executed through a task force involving anti-corruption, intelligence, and financial crime agencies.

It described the move as “a political project aimed not at law enforcement, but at neutralising opposition forces, particularly within emerging coalition platforms.”

The statement further alleged that the strategy includes selective arrests and prolonged detentions without charge, coercion of politically exposed persons to defect to the ruling party, disruption of lawful opposition meetings, deliberate factionalisation of opposition parties, and the use of prolonged litigation to exhaust opposition resources.

The group said the reported plan to arrest Nasir el-Rufai was particularly revealing, noting that his administration has been under investigation for over two years without any established evidence of personal wrongdoing despite sustained scrutiny.

“These actions, if carried out, would constitute grave violations of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), including breaches of the rights to personal liberty, freedom of association and expression, equality before the law, and judicial independence,” the group warned.

It stressed that the selective application of law enforcement based on political affiliation is incompatible with constitutional democracy.

The group called on Nigerians, civil society organisations, and the international community to closely monitor developments, cautioning that the country risks sliding into a system where democratic institutions exist only in form, while political power is consolidated through coercion and selective justice.