El-Rufai threatens ICPC with N15.6bn lawsuit

Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has threatened to file a N15.6bn lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over what he described as his alleged unlawful detention and defamatory statements issued by the anti-graft agency.

In a pre-action notice dated March 4, 2026, and addressed to the ICPC chairman, El-Rufai, through his lawyer Ubong Akpan, accused the commission of contempt of court, malicious prosecution, defamation, abuse of office, forgery, uttering false documents and unlawful detention.

The letter, received at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja on March 5, 2026, also faulted a press statement issued by the commission on March 2, 2026, which claimed that the former governor had refused to cooperate with its investigation.

According to the notice, the claim was defamatory and misrepresented El-Rufai’s constitutional right to remain silent during an investigation.

“Your press statement ludicrously attempts to weaponise our client’s exercise of his constitutional rights, claiming he has refused to cooperate with the commission’s investigation,” the letter stated.

El-Rufai’s legal team cited Sections 35(2) and 36(11) of the 1999 Constitution, arguing that every citizen has the right to remain silent during investigations and that such silence cannot be used as evidence against the person.

The lawyers further accused the anti-corruption agency of fabricating evidence and engaging in actions that allegedly undermine its credibility as a law enforcement institution.

They demanded the immediate and unconditional release of their client from custody, withdrawal of what they described as defamatory statements, and publication of a retraction and apology in three national newspapers.

The notice also urged the commission to preserve all evidence relating to the search, seizure and detention of the former governor, warning that failure to comply would lead to legal action against the ICPC, its chairman in both official and personal capacities, and other officers involved.

El-Rufai said he would seek N5bn as compensatory damages, N5bn as exemplary damages, N5bn as aggravated damages, N500m for injurious falsehood and N100m as cost of the action, bringing the total claim to N15.6bn.

Meanwhile, the ICPC had earlier told an FCT High Court that its operatives recovered electronic equipment allegedly capable of intercepting telephone conversations during a search of El-Rufai’s Abuja residence.

The claim was contained in a counter-affidavit filed by the commission in opposition to a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the former governor, who is asking the court to declare his arrest, detention and the search of his residence unlawful and to award him N1bn in damages.

According to the commission, investigators retrieved “electronic magnetic equipment allegedly capable of tapping conversations” as well as sensitive security documents that could compromise national security.

The ICPC also told the court that El-Rufai declined to cooperate with investigators when confronted with documents obtained during preliminary investigations.

Court filings indicate that the probe focuses on alleged financial irregularities during his tenure as Kaduna State governor between 2015 and 2023, including questions over the whereabouts of €1.4m and about 180 suspicious payments totalling more than N2.1bn from a state revenue account.

However, El-Rufai’s family has denied the allegation that wiretapping devices were recovered from the residence.

In a statement, his son Mohammed Bello El-Rufai described the claim as false, insisting that the items taken from the house were old mobile phones, laptops and storage devices.

He added that the alleged interception devices existed only in “the fevered imagination of the ICPC and its press team,” while also challenging the legality of the search warrant, which the former governor is asking the court to nullify in his suit.