El-Rufai Files Fresh N10bn Suit Against ICPC Over Alleged Denial of Family Access

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has instituted a fresh N10bn fundamental rights suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over the alleged denial of access to his wife and son while in detention.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13, 2026, through his lawyer, Ubong Akpan.

El-Rufai joined the ICPC Chairman and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the second and third defendants in the suit.

The former governor is seeking nine reliefs, including declarations that his fundamental rights guaranteed under Part IV of the 1999 Constitution remain enforceable despite his detention.

He alleged that the ICPC repeatedly prevented his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, from visiting him, particularly to provide him with food, medication and other necessities.

According to him, the alleged denial of family access, without lawful justification or a court order, violated his rights under Sections 34 and 37 of the Constitution and Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

El-Rufai also alleged that ICPC officers physically restrained and intimidated his wife and son on July 7, describing the incident as an arbitrary interference with his family relationships.

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

He further wants the court to order the respondents to grant him unhindered and reasonable access to members of his family and counsel throughout his detention, in line with an earlier order of the Federal High Court.

The former governor claimed that the alleged restrictions had prevented his wife and son from providing him with food, medication and other personal necessities.

He further alleged that the situation had subjected him to “humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety and psychological distress.”

In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, El-Rufai’s Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, stated that the former governor was being detained at the ICPC office in Abuja.

Shaba said the information contained in the affidavit was supplied to him by Asabe on July 12.

According to him, Asabe had been responsible for providing her husband with food, clothing, medication and other personal necessities required for his comfort, health and well-being while in custody.

He added that El-Rufai is the first defendant in charge number FHC/KD/73C/2025, pending before the Federal High Court, Kaduna Judicial Division, in which the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the complainant.

Shaba recalled that Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Kaduna Division had, on April 1, ordered the ICPC to allow the defendants access to their lawyers and personal physicians whenever necessary.

He argued that the order reflected the principle that detainees should not be held incommunicado and that the conditions of their detention remained subject to judicial oversight.

The affidavit further maintained that El-Rufai retained his fundamental rights under the Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, including the right to humane treatment and reasonable access to family members.

Shaba said that before July 7, Asabe regularly visited her husband and delivered meals and other items to him without obstruction.

The latest suit is the most recent in a series of legal actions instituted by El-Rufai against the ICPC since the commission commenced investigations involving him.

In February, the former governor filed a separate N1bn fundamental rights suit against the commission over an alleged unlawful search of his Abuja residence.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, challenged the validity of a search warrant issued by a Chief Magistrate of the Federal Capital Territory Magistrates’ Court, which El-Rufai alleged was used to raid his residence.

He sought declarations that the search violated his fundamental rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the Constitution.

The N1bn suit was subsequently amended, with El-Rufai dropping the magistrate who issued the warrant as a defendant.