A human rights and anti-corruption activist, Ibrahim Garba Wala, popularly known as IG Wala, has called for an immediate review of the bail conditions granted to former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, describing them as stringent, unrealistic and near-impossible to meet.
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Wala, in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja, cautioned the judiciary against what he described as the growing weaponisation of bail conditions in criminal proceedings.
He said the courts must remain the last hope of constitutional justice and ensure that bail is not converted from a constitutional safeguard into an instrument of punishment before trial.
The activist made the remarks while reacting to recent comments by the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, who had raised concerns over the use of excessive bail conditions by courts and law enforcement agencies.
According to Wala, the bail conditions imposed on El-Rufai reflect the kind of institutional overreach condemned by the NBA leadership.
He said, “The stringent, near-impossible conditions attached to El-Rufai’s bail perfectly capture the exact institutional overreach condemned by the NBA leadership.
“Requiring multiple sureties who must be serving federal civil servants on Grade Level 17; demanding original Certificates of Occupancy for landed properties worth hundreds of millions of naira in ultra-expensive enclaves like Maitama or Asokoro; and forcing restrictive check-ins at security headquarters create an insurmountable barrier to freedom.
“As the Court of Appeal clearly ruled in Dasuki v. DG, SSS, expecting civil servants to provide multi-million naira properties is not only a logistical absurdity but also a flagrant violation of public service frameworks.”
Wala argued that bail should ordinarily serve the purpose of securing an accused person’s attendance in court, not as a tool for indefinite detention or psychological pressure.
He alleged that by making El-Rufai unable to perfect his bail, his detractors were achieving through judicial frustration what they could not legally justify.
“The indefinite confinement of a citizen whose physical well-being is actively at risk. This is no longer about accountability; it has evolved into a calculated strategy of physical and psychological attrition,” he said.
The activist urged the judiciary, particularly the judges handling El-Rufai’s matters, to review the bail terms and bring them within realistic and achievable parameters.
He said bail conditions should not be framed in a way that would require civil servants to become “real estate moguls” before an accused person can regain temporary freedom pending trial.
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