Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a fresh N10bn fundamental rights action against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over alleged denial of access to his wife and son while in detention.
The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13 and numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, accuses the anti-graft agency of repeatedly preventing his family members from visiting him.
El-Rufai, through his counsel, Ubong Akpan, named the ICPC Chairman and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the second and third defendants in the suit.
The former governor alleged that his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, had been barred from seeing him despite their role in supplying him with food, medication and other personal necessities.
He urged the court to affirm that his constitutional rights remained protected despite his detention.
El-Rufai specifically alleged that the restriction on family visits, which he said was imposed without lawful authority or a court order, breached his rights to dignity and privacy guaranteed under Sections 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution.
He also relied on Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in challenging the alleged restrictions.
The former governor further claimed that ICPC operatives restrained and intimidated his wife and son during an encounter on July 7.
He therefore asked the court to declare the continued denial of access to his family unconstitutional, illegal and invalid.
Among the reliefs sought is an order directing the respondents to allow him reasonable and unhindered access to his relatives and lawyers for as long as he remains in detention.
El-Rufai claimed the restriction had caused him humiliation, anxiety and psychological distress, while also preventing his family from providing him with essential supplies.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, his Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, said El-Rufai was being detained at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja.
Shaba stated that Asabe had previously visited her husband regularly and supplied him with food, clothing, medication and other necessities without hindrance.
He also referred to a criminal case involving El-Rufai pending before the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
According to Shaba, Justice R.M. Aikawa had on April 1 directed the ICPC to grant the defendants access to their lawyers and personal doctors whenever required.
He argued that the order reinforced the principle that detainees should not be held incommunicado and that their conditions of detention remained subject to judicial supervision.
The affidavit further maintained that El-Rufai retained his constitutional rights and protections under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, including the right to humane treatment and reasonable contact with family members.
The latest suit adds to a series of legal actions filed by the former governor against the ICPC since the commission began investigating him.
In February, El-Rufai instituted a separate N1bn fundamental rights suit challenging an alleged search of his Abuja residence.
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He had argued in that case that the search violated his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy.
The suit was later amended, with the former governor removing the magistrate who issued the disputed search warrant from the list of defendants.
