Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a N10bn suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over the alleged denial of access to his wife and son while in detention.
El-Rufai, in the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accused the anti-corruption agency of violating his fundamental rights by allegedly preventing his family members from visiting him and providing him with food, medication and other necessities.
The former governor also joined the Chairman of the ICPC and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the second and third defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026.
The originating motion, filed on August 13 by his lawyer, Ubong Akpan, contained nine reliefs sought by the applicant.
El-Rufai asked the court to declare that his fundamental rights guaranteed under Part IV of the 1999 Constitution remained enforceable despite his detention by the ICPC.
He specifically alleged that the repeated refusal to allow his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, access to him constituted a breach of his rights to dignity and private and family life.
He also alleged that ICPC officers physically restrained and intimidated his wife and son on July 7 while allegedly preventing them from seeing him.
The former governor urged the court to declare the continued denial of access to his family without lawful authority unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.
He further sought an order compelling the respondents to grant him “unhindered and reasonable access” to his family members and lawyers throughout his detention, in accordance with an earlier court order.
El-Rufai argued that the alleged denial of access had prevented his wife and son from supplying him with food, medication and other personal necessities.
According to him, the alleged treatment subjected him to humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety and psychological distress.
He maintained that the respondents’ conduct violated Sections 34, 37 and 46 of the Constitution, as well as Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, El-Rufai’s Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, said the former governor was being detained at the ICPC office in Abuja.
Shaba said the information contained in the affidavit was supplied to him by Asabe on July 12.
He stated that Asabe had been personally responsible for providing her husband with food, clothing, medication and other necessities since his detention.
The affidavit also referred to a previous order made by the Federal High Court in Kaduna on April 1.
The order, issued by Justice R.M. Aikawa in charge number FHC/KD/73C/2025, allegedly directed the ICPC to allow the defendants access to their lawyers and personal physicians whenever necessary.
Shaba argued that the order underscored the principle that detainees should not be held incommunicado and that detention conditions remained subject to judicial oversight.
He further contended that El-Rufai retained his constitutional and statutory rights to humane treatment, including reasonable access to family members and necessary medical care.
Giving details of the alleged restriction, Shaba said Asabe had regularly visited her husband before July 7 and had delivered meals and other items to him without obstruction.
He claimed that the arrangement was consistent with the ICPC’s established visiting procedures as well as the former governor’s constitutional and statutory rights.
El-Rufai is facing proceedings in a separate case before the Federal High Court in Kaduna, where the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the complainant.
The latest suit seeks judicial intervention over the conditions of his detention and the alleged restriction of access to his family.
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