Less than 24 hours after the suspended Chairman of the House of Reps ad hoc Committee on the Fuel Subsidy regime, Hon Farouk Lawan was barred from travelling to Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj, an almost similar fate befell the former Minister of the FCT, Malam Nasir el-Rufai. He was however let off after about 15 minutes.
The former Minister was stopped by men of the SSS on his way to Dubai. The situation was made public via his page on Twitter.
At around 12.30 pm, the former Minister’s post on the social network read “The SSS at the Lagos Airport tell me they have orders to detain me and prevent me from travelling….the waiting game starts…” Two minutes later, another tweet followed, which read “I have just been stopped at Lagos Airport again….by the SSS….I wonder what it is this time….”.
After about fourteen minutes, Malam el-Rufai posted “Where is your boarding pass? This is your passport.
You can go sir” said the SSS oga that is not in a black suit & not wearing dark goggles ” an indication that his passport might have earlier been taken.
The situation however became clear after another two minutes when another post came; this time it read “So after some 15 minutes of fidgeting and unlawful detention, I am seated in the lounge and on my way to Dubai…”
Though the next tweet from Malam el-Rufai did not giveany inkling into why he felt he was stopped by the security agents, he recently advised the President to resign in one of his articles. “Our security agencies are a joke. Secession in Ogoni, BH killings in Kogi, war-mongering by Dokubo, they do jack! But they have time me..SMH” he tweeted.
El Rufai had been stopped in a similar at the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport in July 2011.
