Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has launched a fresh ₦10 billion fundamental human rights lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), alleging that he was unlawfully denied access to his wife and son whilst held in custody.
The suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026), filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13 by his legal counsel, Ubong Akpan, names the ICPC, its chairman, and the Attorney-General of the Federation as co-defendants.
Seeking nine specific reliefs, the former governor claims that ICPC officers blocked his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, from delivering food, medication, and essential supplies. He further alleges that his family members were physically restrained and intimidated by officers on July 7, characterising the event as arbitrary interference in his personal life that caused him severe emotional distress.
Asking the court to intervene, El-Rufai urged the judge to rule that: “the respondents’ continued denial of family access without lawful authority is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.”
He is also demanding an order compelling the respondents to grant 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.”
An affidavit supporting the suit, sworn by El-Rufai’s Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, noted that the former governor is currently detained at the ICPC office in Abuja. Shaba highlighted that Justice R.M.
Aikawa of the Federal High Court, Kaduna, had previously ordered on April 1 that the ICPC must allow El-Rufai access to his lawyers and physicians. Commenting on that ruling, Shaba stated:
“Clearly, this order reflects the settled principle of law that detainees are not to be held incommunicado and that the ICPC is subject to judicial oversight regarding the conditions of detention.”
This action marks the latest legal clash between the former governor and the anti-graft agency. In February, El-Rufai filed a separate ₦1 billion fundamental rights suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026) challenging the ICPC’s search of his Abuja residence under a magistrate-issued warrant.
That suit, which was subsequently amended to drop the magistrate as a defendant, alleged that the raid infringed upon his constitutional rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy.