On Thursday, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted permission to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to review and analyze electronic devices collected from the residence of Nasir El-Rufai, who previously governed Kaduna State.
The order was issued by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, following an ex-parte application submitted by ICPC’s representative, Osuobeni Akponimisingha.
During the proceedings, Mr. Akponimisingha requested authorization for ICPC to inspect and conduct a forensic examination of the devices, emphasizing the need for data extraction to advance the ongoing inquiry into the former governor’s activities.
According to reports from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), approximately 14 sets of electronic devices were taken into custody by the commission's agents during a raid at El-Rufai’s residence in Abuja.
The recovered items include various storage devices such as a Sony HD-EGS, an ITB Transcend device, a Toshiba storage device, and several mobile phones including models from Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, and Google IDEOS.
Additionally, the confiscated items feature a Samsung storage device (model SPO802N), a Remarkable tablet, an Apple MacBook Pro in black, a Seagate Freeagent desktop external drive, and numerous flash drives and a Microcell memory card.
The ex-parte motion is assigned the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/499/2026, citing the Federal Republic of Nigeria versus Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai. Notably, El-Rufai is currently engaged in a separate fundamental rights enforcement case amounting to N1 billion, which challenges the legality of the search and seizure executed at his home.
El-Rufai has been in ICPC custody since February 18 and has denied the commission access to the seized devices.
His legal representative, Oluwole Iyamu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), included several requests in the application filed on February 20.
In his petition, El-Rufai contends that the search conducted at his residence on February 19 around 2 p.m. by the ICPC and police constituted a serious infringement of his fundamental rights.
He claims that this action violated his right to human dignity, personal freedom, fair hearing, and privacy as stipulated in Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Nigerian Constitution.
El-Rufai also seeks a court declaration asserting that any evidence obtained through the aforementioned invalid warrant and unauthorized search should be deemed inadmissible in any legal context against him, as it was obtained in violation of his constitutional rights.
He is requesting an injunction to prevent the ICPC and related parties from using or presenting any evidence or items seized during the illegal search in any investigation or legal proceedings.
Furthermore, he demands the immediate return of all items confiscated from his home during what he describes as an unlawful operation, along with an inventory detailing those items.
El-Rufai is also pursuing damages totaling N1 billion for general, exemplary, and aggravated injuries, among other requests.
In a response to the suit, the ICPC clarified that the investigation into El- Rufai commenced following a petition against him. They maintained that their operatives executed the search under a valid court-issued warrant, which was carried out on February 19 between 1:37 p.m. and 3:56 p.m. at his residential address, 12 Mambilla Street, Asokoro, Abuja.
The commission affirmed that personnel from the Nigeria Police Force accompanied them during the operation, which was observed by El-Rufai’s spouse, Hadiza El-Rufai, and their son, Mohammed El-Rufai.
In its counter affidavit, the ICPC requested the court dismiss El-Rufai’s suit while outlining the items they recovered during the operation.
The police, through an affidavit submitted by Insp. Ewa Anthony, argued that they hold the lawful authority to detect, arrest, investigate, and prosecute offenders, asserting that the search conducted at El-Rufai’s residence was performed under a legitimate court order.
They countered El-Rufai's claims regarding the warrant's validity, asserting compliance with all necessary legal protocols throughout the operation, while contending that the former governor is attempting to utilize the court system to evade further security scrutiny and prosecution.
They have also requested full dismissal of the suit in its entirety.
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to comment.
Be the first to comment on this article!