El-Rufai sues ICPC for ₦10 billion over alleged denial of family access

• Nasir El-Rufai is seeking ₦10 billion in damages from the ICPC, alleging that his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, were denied access to him while he was in custody.

• El-Rufai says the restrictions violated his rights, while the ICPC has maintained that family access was subject to its visiting procedures and existing court orders.

• The suit relies on constitutional and African Charter protections, including Sections 34, 37 and 46 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has filed a fresh ₦10 billion suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged restrictions on his access to his family while in custody.

El-Rufai filed the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13, 2026, through his lawyer, Ubong Akpan. The case is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026 with the ICPC, its chairman and the Attorney-General of the Federation listed as defendants. 

El-Rufai is requesting nine specific reliefs from the court. Among these is a formal declaration that his fundamental rights under Part IV of the 1999 Constitution remain fully enforceable during his detention.

He alleged that ICPC officials repeatedly stopped his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and his son, Abba El-Rufai, from visiting him.

He said this affected their ability to bring him food, medication, clothing and other necessities. He also alleged that ICPC officers physically restrained and intimidated his wife and son during an incident on July 7.

According to the former governor, the alleged treatment amounted to an unlawful interference with his family life.

He is asking the court to declare that the alleged denial of family access violated his fundamental rights under Sections 34, 37 and 46 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 

El-Rufai is also asking the court to order the ICPC to give him reasonable and unhindered access to his family and lawyers.

An affidavit supporting the case was deposed to by Mohammed Shaba, El-Rufai’s Principal Secretary.

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Shaba said Asabe had previously visited her husband regularly and provided him with food, medication, clothing and other personal needs.

He also referred to an order issued on April 1, 2026, by Justice R. M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Kaduna. The order, according to the affidavit, directed the ICPC to allow El-Rufai access to his lawyers and personal physicians. 

But the family-access dispute comes against a much wider disagreement between El-Rufai and the ICPC over his detention.

On July 7, the commission accused the former governor of abusing a court-approved medical visit.

The ICPC said El-Rufai had been scheduled to appear before the Kaduna State High Court but declined to go with its officers, insisting that he needed to see his personal doctor.

The commission later facilitated a medical visit to the private wing of the National Hospital in Abuja. The ICPC said its officials stayed outside the consultation room while El-Rufai was being examined.

It later said photographs posted on Facebook by political associate Isa Ashiru Kudan showed El-Rufai meeting with political associates during the visit.

The commission alleged that the medical visit had therefore been used for activities outside the purpose approved by the court. 

The dispute led to the arrest of El-Rufai’s personal physician, Professor Bello Abubakar.

The ICPC accused Abubakar of making false statements concerning the medical visit. 

El-Rufai later denied breaching the court order. His side said the medical appointment was based on an existing health issue and that the arrangement for the hospital consultation had been made before the family became aware of the proposed court sitting in Kaduna.

There was also an earlier dispute over visiting hours. In May, ICPC spokesperson Okor Odey said the commission's access-control protocol allows visits between 9:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Odey said the rule applies to people in ICPC custody generally.

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He said El-Rufai's wife arrived at about 7:00 p.m., after visiting hours had ended. The ICPC also said its visitor records showed that El-Rufai's wife and a housemaid had visited him several times that day, between about 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., to deliver food.

The commission's account therefore differs sharply from El-Rufai's claim that his family was repeatedly denied access to him.

His continued detention is also linked to his bail conditions.

The Federal High Court in Kaduna granted him bail, but the conditions included substantial sureties and other restrictions. 

The conditions included a ₦200 million bond and two sureties, with specific requirements attached to the sureties, as well as the surrender of his international passport and restrictions on public comments about the case.

The ICPC has maintained that El-Rufai remains in custody because the conditions for his release have not been fulfilled.

The new suit now puts the dispute over family access before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

El-Rufai's allegations have not been established by the court. 

The ICPC has also denied unlawfully restricting his family access and has offered a different account of the events surrounding his detention.

The case will therefore turn on the evidence before the court and the interpretation of the constitutional and human-rights protections relied upon by the former governor.