El-Rufai vs ICPC: N10bn suit filed

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.