Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has filed a N10 billion lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), accusing the agency of preventing his wife and son from visiting him while in detention.
Gatekeepers News reports that the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13 by El-Rufai’s lawyer, Ubong Akpan. The ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, were joined as the second and third defendants.
El-Rufai is seeking nine reliefs from the court, including declarations that his fundamental rights remain protected despite his detention.
He alleged that ICPC officials repeatedly prevented his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and his son, Abba El-Rufai, from seeing him and from bringing him food, medication, clothing and other personal necessities.
The former Governor argued that the alleged restrictions violated his rights to dignity and private and family life guaranteed under Sections 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution, as well as Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
He also alleged that ICPC officials physically restrained and intimidated his wife and son during an incident on July 7, describing the action as unlawful interference with his family relationships.
In an affidavit filed alongside the suit, Mohammed Shaba, El-Rufai’s principal secretary, said Aichatou had regularly visited the former Governor and supplied him with food, medication and other necessities before July 7 without obstruction.
Shaba said the restrictions allegedly prevented the family from continuing to provide those necessities and amounted to holding El-Rufai incommunicado.
El-Rufai is therefore asking the court to declare the continued denial of access to his family unconstitutional, illegal and void. He is also seeking an order directing the respondents to grant him reasonable and unhindered access to his family members and legal representatives for the duration of his detention.
The fresh lawsuit is the latest legal action by the former Governor against the ICPC. He had earlier instituted a N1 billion fundamental-rights suit over the agency’s search of his Abuja residence.
El-Rufai has remained in ICPC custody since February over investigations and criminal proceedings relating to alleged financial offences during his tenure as Kaduna Governor. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
