Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has launched a fresh legal battle against the ICPC, demanding ₦10bn in damages over allegations that his wife and son were denied access to him while he remained in custody. El-Rufai filed the fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13, accusing the anti-corruption […]
Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has launched a fresh legal battle against the ICPC, demanding ₦10bn in damages over allegations that his wife and son were denied access to him while he remained in custody.
El-Rufai filed the fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13, accusing the anti-corruption agency of repeatedly preventing Aichatou Asabe and Abba El-Rufai from visiting him.
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, also lists the ICPC chairman and the Attorney-General of the Federation as defendants. Through his lawyer, Ubong Akpan, the former governor is seeking nine reliefs from the court.
Among his claims, El-Rufai alleged that the restriction on family visits prevented his wife and son from bringing him food, medication and other necessities while he was in custody. He argued that the alleged denial violated his fundamental rights under the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
He also accused ICPC officers of physically restraining and intimidating his wife and son on July 7. According to the former governor, the alleged action interfered with his family relationships and subjected him to humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety and psychological distress.
El-Rufai is asking the court to declare the continued denial of access to his family without lawful authority unconstitutional, illegal and invalid. He is also seeking an order granting him reasonable and unhindered access to his family and counsel during the period of his detention.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, his Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, said El-Rufai was being detained at the ICPC office in Abuja. Shaba stated that Asabe had previously visited her husband regularly and supplied food, clothing, medication and other personal necessities.
He also cited an April 1 order by Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Kaduna directing the ICPC to allow the detainees access to their lawyers and personal physicians whenever they needed them. Shaba argued that the order reinforced the principle that detainees should not be held incommunicado.
The latest suit comes months after El-Rufai filed another legal action against the ICPC. In February, he instituted a ₦1bn fundamental rights case challenging the alleged search of his Abuja residence and claiming violations of his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy.