The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday dismissed a suit filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai seeking an order restraining the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and others from freezing his bank accounts.
Other respondents in the suit included the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) sued as second to fourth respondents, respectively.
Delivering judgement, Justice Justice Joyce Abdulmalik dismissed the suit for being an abuse of court process because the former governor had filed a similar suit in the FCT High Court.
Justice Abdulmalik agreed with the arguments of the ICPC, EFCC, DSS, and AGF that a court of law cannot be used by any citizen to prevent law enforcement agencies from performing their statutory duties.
The judge held that the suit was speculative in nature and lacked merit.
She also agreed that the case did not disclose any reasonable cause of action against the EFCC, DSS, and AGF, and subsequently struck out their names from the suit.
El-Rufai, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/368/2026, prayed the court to restrain the respondents from taking any step to freeze his bank accounts or seize his assets, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
El-Rufai is seeking declarations that his severance benefits received after serving as Kaduna governor between 2015 and 2023 are lawfully earned and cannot be treated as proceeds of crime. He also asked the court to affirm that properties acquired with the funds were legally obtained.
The former governor further argued that any attempt to freeze his accounts or obtain forfeiture orders without credible evidence would violate his constitutional rights, including the presumption of innocence and fair hearing.
ICPC, AGF urge court to dismiss El-Rufai’s N1bn rights suit
He is seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the agencies from interfering with his assets, as well as N1 billion in damages for alleged psychological trauma, reputational harm and anticipated violation of his rights, alongside N100 million in litigation costs.
However, the ICPC urged the court to dismiss the suit, describing it as incompetent and an abuse of court process.
The ICPC argued that El-Rufai had filed multiple suits arising from the same investigation, accusing him of forum shopping and seeking identical reliefs before different courts.
The commission said the former governor had earlier challenged the search of his residence and related actions in separate cases before the Federal High Court and the FCT High Court.
The DSS also asked the court to strike out its name from the suit, while the AGF argued that the application was speculative, adding that interim forfeiture orders are lawful investigative tools that do not amount to a violation of constitutional rights.
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