Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has filed a new N10 billion fundamental rights lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, alleging restriction of contact to his wife and son while in detention.
El-Rufai claimed in his action, FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, filed on August 13 at the Federal High Court in Abuja, that the ICPC prohibited his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, from visiting him.
The former governor, represented by his lawyer, Ubong Akpan, also joined the ICPC chairman and the attorney general of the federation as second and third defendants, respectively.
El-Rufai is seeking nine reliefs, including rulings that his fundamental rights guaranteed by Part IV of the 1999 Constitution are still enforceable despite his detention.
He claimed that the repeated refusal to allow his family members access to him, particularly to provide food, medication, and other necessities, without lawful justification or a court order violated his constitutional rights under Sections 34 and 37, as well as Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
He also claimed that on July 7, ICPC officers forcibly restrained and harassed his wife and son, describing the occurrence as an unjustified interference with his spousal and filial relationships.
El-Rufai requested that the court declare “the respondents’ continued denial of family access without lawful authority is unconstitutional, illegal, and null and void.”
He also requested an order instructing the defendants to provide him “unhindered and reasonable access to members of his family and counsel throughout the period of his detention, as previously directed by the Federal High Court.”
According to the former governor, the alleged denial of access had prohibited his wife and son from delivering him food, medication, and other essentials while in detention.
“This action has subjected the applicant to humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety, and psychological distress,” he alleged.
He also alleged that the respondents “acted arbitrarily, unlawfully, and in a manner inconsistent with Sections 34, 37, and 46 of the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“The respondents’ conduct amounts to an unjustifiable interference with the applicant’s dignity and family life and is therefore unconstitutional.”
In an affidavit filed in support of the complaint, El-Rufai’s Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, stated that the former governor was detained at the ICPC office in Abuja.
Shaba stated that Asabe gave him the facts contained in the affidavit on July 12.
According to him, Asabe had been personally responsible for supplying her husband with “food, clothing, medication, and other personal necessities required for his comfort, health, and well-being while in custody.”
He stated 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 plaintiff.
Shaba stated that on April 1, Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Kaduna division directed the ICPC to give the defendants access to their counsel and personal physicians anytime they needed to see them.
“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,” he stated.
The affidavit went on to claim that El-Rufai’s fundamental rights under the Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act remained intact, including the entitlement to humane treatment and reasonable access to family members.
Shaba stated that before July 7, Asabe had routinely visited her husband and given meals and other goods to him without difficulty.
The new lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal measures brought by the former governor against the ICPC since the commission began investigating him.
In February, El-Rufai launched a separate N1 billion fundamental rights lawsuit against the ICPC for the alleged illegal search of his Abuja home.
The suit, filed under FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, contested the legitimacy of a search warrant issued by a chief magistrate of the FCT Magistrates’ Court, which the former governor said was used to raid his home.
He sought declarations that the search violated his fundamental rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy, as guaranteed by the Constitution’s Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37.
El-Rufai later revised the N1 billion lawsuit, eliminating the magistrate who issued the warrant as a defendant.
