A member of the House of Representatives from Kaduna North and Chairman of the Committee on Banking Regulations, Mohammed Bello El-Rufai, has disclosed that presidential candidates of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, called him to ask about his father, former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, who is currently detained.
Bello also disclosed that their running mates, Rotimi Amaechi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, also called him to ask about El-Rufai.
On February 18, 2026, El-Rufai was arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, following investigations into his tenure as governor over alleged fraud.
From March to April 2026, the former governor faced multiple arraignments across different courts.
He was arraigned on a 10-count money laundering charge by the ICPC on March 24, intercepted by the Department of State Services (DSS) on April 1, faced additional ICPC charges regarding rail and CCTV contracts in mid-April, and was formally arraigned by the DSS in Abuja on April 23 over alleged communication interception.
In May, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja granted El-Rufai bail in the sum of N100 million and one surety.
The judge delivered the ruling in a case filed by the DSS regarding an alleged national security breach and unauthorised access to a telephone conversation involving the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
In June, Justice Abdulmalik refused to vary the stringent bail conditions in the DSS wiretapping case.
However, Bello said Obi’s calls were a lesson to him because he had been a strong critic of the former Anambra State governor.
In a video, Bello said: “Politicians like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Kwankwaso, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and others called me to ask about my dad.
“I would like to thank them, particularly Mr Peter Obi. He always called me to ask about my dad. And for me, at 38, it’s a lesson in life because, in the case of Obi, I used to be critical of him.
“And for Malam, he is using the time to finish books, catch up, read the Quran, so it’s also a moment for him in isolation to reflect, plan better, and tone down on things like that.”