Founder and chairman of Chocolate City Entertainment Group, Audu Maikori, has described his 2017 arrest under the administration of former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai as persecution rather than legitimate prosecution.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Prime Time on Arise News on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, Maikori rejected claims that his arrest was simply a lawful response to misinformation he admitted posting at the time.
“What I went through with El-Rufai, and many other people, was persecution. A governor doesn’t sit down and try to do the job of the police,” he said.
Maikori argued that while public officials may have legitimate grounds to seek redress when false information is published, the appropriate process is to report the matter to law enforcement and allow investigators to handle it independently.
“You report the matter, let the police handle it, and the police did,” he said, maintaining that law enforcement authorities initially processed the case before he was released, only for further actions to follow afterward.
His remarks come amid renewed public exchanges between both men over the circumstances surrounding his 2017 arrest, which stemmed from a tweet about alleged killings in Southern Kaduna. Maikori acknowledged during the interview that the information in his original post was inaccurate, but insisted the state’s response crossed the line from lawful prosecution into abuse of power.
He maintained that there is a clear distinction between enforcing the law and using state authority to intimidate critics or dissenting voices.
The case, which has previously been the subject of court rulings, has resurfaced following recent public comments by El-Rufai. Maikori said his decision to appear on the programme was aimed at clarifying what he described as misrepresentations of events….See More
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