El-Rufai slams fresh N10bn suit against ICPC, alleges denial of access to family

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA— The detained former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a N10billion suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), alleging gross violation of his fundamental rights.

In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, which he lodged before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the embattled former governor accused the ICPC of denying his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, access to him.

He is praying the court to declare that the repeated refusal of the prosecuting agency to allow his family members access to him, particularly to provide food, medication and other necessities, without lawful justification or a court order, amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights under Sections 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

El-Rufai, through his lawyer, Ubong Akpan, told the court that officials of the ICPC physically restrained and intimidated his wife and son on July 7, insisting the action was an arbitrary interference with his spousal and filial relationships.

He urged the court to declare that the respondents’ continued denial of family access without lawful authority is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.

While the ICPC and its Chairman were listed in the case as the 1st and 2nd respondents, respectively, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was sued as the 3rd respondent.

Among the reliefs he is seeking, the Applicant urged the court to direct the respondents to grant him unhindered and reasonable access to members of his family and counsel throughout the period of his detention, as earlier directed by the Federal High Court.

He contended that the denial of access to his wife and son, which prevented them from giving him food, medication and other necessities while in custody, subjected him “to humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety and psychological distress.”

According to him, the respondents acted “arbitrarily, unlawfully and in a manner inconsistent with Sections 34, 37 and 46 of the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

“The respondents’ conduct amounts to an unjustifiable interference with the applicant’s dignity and family life and is therefore unconstitutional,” El-Rufai added.

It will be recalled that the former governor, who has been in detention since February, had earlier instituted another N1bn fundamental rights action against the ICPC over the alleged unlawful search of his Abuja residence.

He had, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, challenged the validity of a search warrant issued by an Abuja Chief Magistrate, which the anti-corruption agency relied upon to search his home.

El-Rufai, who was governor between 2015 and 2023 and was also Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, is facing multiple charges before courts in Abuja and Kaduna.

One of the cases against him includes an allegation that he is complicit in the unlawful interception of the phone communications of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

Even though he was granted bail on very stringent terms by the court in Abuja, the court in Kaduna okayed his continued stay in ICPC custody, with a directive that he should be granted access to his family, lawyer and physician.