The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed December 2 for judgment in a N1 billion fundamental rights suit filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and two other respondents over the search of his Abuja residence.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik fixed the date on Tuesday after lawyers representing the respondents adopted their court processes and urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Politics Nigeria reports that the other respondents are the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), listed as the second and third respondents, respectively.
When the case was called, El-Rufai’s lawyer, Ubong Akpan, was absent from the courtroom. The judge subsequently deemed the former governor’s filed processes adopted.
Abdul Mohammed, counsel to the ICPC, identified and adopted the commission’s processes, urging the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety.
The police representative, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ezekiel Rimamsomte, and Maimuna Lami-Shiru, director of civil litigation and public law at the Federal Ministry of Justice, who represented the AGF, also adopted their respective processes and asked the court to dismiss the suit.
Akpan later arrived in court and apologised for his lateness. However, when he sought permission to adopt his client’s processes, the judge informed him that they had already been deemed adopted.
El-Rufai initially instituted the suit against the ICPC, the chief magistrate of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Magistrate’s Court, the IGP and the AGF as the first to fourth respondents, respectively.
He subsequently removed the magistrate from the suit after the judge observed that he had failed to identify the judicial officer by name.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, dated and filed on February 20 by his counsel, Oluwole Iyamu, the former governor sought seven reliefs, including a declaration that the search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on February 19 violated his fundamental rights.
El-Rufai argued that the operation, allegedly conducted by the ICPC and the police at about 2 p.m., breached his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the Constitution.
He also asked the court to declare inadmissible any evidence obtained through what he described as an invalid search warrant and unlawful search.
The former governor further sought N1 billion in general, exemplary and aggravated damages against the ICPC, the IGP and the AGF.
In its counter-affidavit, the ICPC said it received a petition against El-Rufai and commenced an investigation based on the allegations, which led to the search of his residence.
The commission urged the court to dismiss the suit and listed items it claimed were recovered from the residence.
Politics Nigeria reports that the IGP, in a counter-affidavit deposed to by Inspector Ewa Anthony, argued that the police had the statutory authority to detect, arrest, investigate and prosecute offenders.
He maintained that the search of El-Rufai’s residence was conducted pursuant to a search warrant issued by a competent court.
Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the matter until December 2 for judgment.