…as ex-governor drops case against Abuja magistrate
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, ABUJA
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, fixed June 17 to hear the N1 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
El-Rufai, who served as governor from 2015 to 2023 and as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, dragged the anti-corruption agency to court over an alleged unlawful raid on his Abuja residence.
He specifically challenged the legality of the warrant the ICPC relied on to search his home.
Aside from the ICPC, other defendants he sued in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026 were the Chief Magistrate, Magistrate’s Court of the FCT, Abuja Magisterial District; the Inspector-General of Police; and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
He prayed the court to declare that the search warrant dated February 4, which the Chief Magistrate of the Magistrate’s Court of the FCT signed to authorise the search and seizure of items from his residence, was invalid, null, and void.
The former governor also sought a declaration that the search warrant was legally defective for lacking particularity and for “material drafting errors, ambiguity in execution parameters, overbreadth, and absence of probable cause, thereby constituting an unlawful and unreasonable search in violation of Section 37 of the Constitution.”
Other reliefs he sought include a declaration that the invasion and search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on February 19 at about 2 p.m., executed by agents of the ICPC and the Inspector-General of Police under the invalid warrant, “amounts to a gross violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution.”
Meanwhile, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik okayed the matter for hearing after the litigant applied to delist the Chief Magistrate, cited as the 2nd defendant, from the case.
El-Rufai’s decision to drop the case against the Chief Magistrate followed Justice Abdulmalik’s earlier observation that he had failed to specify the particular magistrate sued.
At Tuesday’s resumed proceedings, a lawyer for the applicant, Mr Ugochukwu Nnakwu, applied to withdraw the magistrate from the case and sought an adjournment to amend the suit.
“In view of this development, we urge My Lord to strike out the name of the second defendant as a party in this suit,” he added.
He further prayed the court to strike out a motion ex parte his client had initially filed for the magistrate to be served with the suit via substituted means.
Ezekiel Rimamsomte, who appeared for the police; Maimuna Shiru, who represented the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF); and Abdul Mohammed, SAN, who announced an appearance for the ICPC, said they were not opposed to the applications.
Consequently, Justice Abdulmalik struck out the name of the magistrate from the suit in a short ruling.
However, the ICPC’s lawyer, Mohammed SAN, queried El-Rufai’s request to amend the suit, insisting that with the striking out of the magistrate, the entire matter had collapsed.
According to Mohammed, SAN, most of the reliefs in the applicant’s suit centred on a search warrant issued by the magistrate.
His objections were, however, waved aside by the trial judge, who implored ICPC’s counsel to allow the applicant to prosecute his case as he deemed fit.
She held that the ICPC was at liberty to file a counter-affidavit to argue its position.
El-Rufai currently faces multiple charges, which include an allegation that he unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
The ICPC had obtained court permission on March 12 to examine and analyse about 14 sets of electronic devices allegedly recovered when the former governor’s house was searched.
It disclosed that the recovered items included a Sony HD-EGS storage device; a 1TB Transcend storage device; a Toshiba storage device; a Samsung mobile phone; a Nokia mobile phone (96GB); a BlackBerry mobile phone; a Google IDEOS phone; a Samsung storage device (SPO802N); a Remarkable tablet; an Apple MacBook Pro (black); a Seagate FreeAgent desk external drive; a ZTE mobile phone; 10 pieces of flash drives; and a MicroSD memory card.
In his suit, El-Rufai prayed the court, among other things, to declare that any evidence obtained pursuant to the invalid warrant and unlawful search “is inadmissible in any proceedings against the applicant, as it was procured in breach of constitutional safeguards.”
He further applied for an order of injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from further relying on, using, or tendering any evidence or items seized during the unlawful search in any investigation, prosecution, or proceedings involving him.
El-Rufai also asked the court to direct the first and third respondents (ICPC and Inspector-General of Police) to return forthwith all items seized from his Abuja home during the unlawful search, together with a detailed inventory.
Likewise, he sought “an order awarding the sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (one billion naira) as general, exemplary, and aggravated damages against the respondents, jointly and severally, for the violations of the applicant’s fundamental rights, including trespass, unlawful seizure, and the resultant psychological trauma, humiliation, distress, infringement of privacy, and reputational harm.”
From the total sum sought, the applicant explained that N300m would serve as compensatory damages for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security; N400m as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies and vindicate the applicant’s rights; and N300m as aggravated damages for “the malicious, high-handed, and oppressive nature of the respondents’ actions, including the use of a patently defective warrant procured through misleading representations.”
He prayed to be awarded N100m to cover the cost of the litigation.
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