Monday, August 17, 2026 - Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has filed a fresh N10 billion lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged restrictions on his family members visiting him in custody.
The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August
13, seeks to enforce what El-Rufai described as his fundamental rights while in
detention.
El-Rufai, through his lawyer, Ubong Akpan, alleged that ICPC
officials stopped his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and his son, Abba El-Rufai, from
visiting him.
He also joined the ICPC chairman and the Attorney-General of
the Federation as defendants in the case.
The former governor is asking the court to declare that his
constitutional rights remain protected despite his detention. He alleged that
denying his family access to him, particularly when they wanted to provide
food, medication and other necessities, was unlawful.
El-Rufai also accused ICPC officers of physically
restraining and intimidating his wife and son on July 7. He described the
incident as an unjustified interference with his family relationships.
He asked the court to declare that “the respondents’
continued denial of family access without lawful authority is unconstitutional,
illegal, null and void.”
He also wants the court to order the ICPC to give 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.”
El-Rufai alleged that the restriction had caused him
“humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety and psychological distress.”
He further accused the ICPC of acting “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.”
In an affidavit supporting the case, El-Rufai’s Principal
Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, said the former governor was being held at the ICPC
office in Abuja.
Shaba said El-Rufai’s wife had regularly supplied him with
“food, clothing, medication, and other personal necessities required for his
comfort, health, and well-being while in custody.”
He also referred to an earlier order by Justice R.M. Aikawa
of the Federal High Court in Kaduna, which directed the ICPC to allow the
defendants access to their lawyers and personal doctors whenever necessary.
According to Shaba, the order showed that detainees should
not be kept incommunicado and that the ICPC remains subject to court
supervision over detention conditions.
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