AGF asks court to dismiss El-Rufai’s N1bn suit
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a N1bn fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over the search of his Abuja residence by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
Fagbemi, through a lawyer from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Maimuna Lami-Shiru, urged Justice Joyce Abdulmalik to dismiss the suit for lacking merit, arguing that El-Rufai failed to disclose any reasonable cause of action to warrant the reliefs sought.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, has the ICPC and Inspector-General of Police as respondents, while the Chief Magistrate of the Magistrate’s Court of the Federal Capital Territory, who was initially joined as a respondent, was subsequently delisted from the case by the former governor.
El-Rufai instituted the action to challenge the legality of the search warrant used by the ICPC to search his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on February 19.
He is asking the court to declare the warrant, dated February 18 and issued by a Chief Magistrate, invalid, null and void.
The former governor contended that the warrant was legally defective because it allegedly lacked particularity and contained “material drafting errors, ambiguity in execution parameters, overbreadth, and absence of probable cause.”
He argued that the alleged defects rendered the search an unlawful and unreasonable intrusion into his privacy, contrary to Section 37 of the Constitution.
El-Rufai also asked the court to declare that the search and seizure of items from his residence violated his fundamental rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the Constitution.
At Monday’s proceedings, the AGF notified the court that he had filed a counter-affidavit challenging the competence of the suit.
The Attorney-General denied the allegation that El-Rufai’s rights were violated and maintained that the ICPC and police acted within the bounds of the law.
He consequently urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter until October 27 to enable El-Rufai’s lawyer, Akinyemi Aremu, to respond to the AGF’s counter-affidavit.
The ICPC had earlier filed its own counter-affidavit seeking the dismissal of the suit.
The commission said the search was conducted as part of an investigation into a petition against the former governor and that its operatives acted pursuant to a valid search warrant issued by a competent court.
According to the ICPC, its officials were accompanied by police officers during the search and conducted the exercise in the presence of El-Rufai’s wife, Hadiza, and his son, Mohammed.
The police also defended the search, saying its officers had statutory powers to detect, arrest, investigate and prosecute offenders.
In a counter-affidavit deposed to by an Inspector, Ewa Anthony, the police maintained that its officers lawfully executed a search warrant issued by a competent court.
El-Rufai is seeking, among other reliefs, an order declaring that any evidence obtained through the alleged unlawful search and defective warrant is inadmissible in proceedings against him.
He is also asking the court to restrain the respondents and their agents from using, relying on or tendering any of the items seized during the search in any investigation or prosecution involving him.
The former governor further wants the ICPC and the Inspector-General of Police to return all items seized from his residence, together with a detailed inventory.
The items listed by the ICPC include electronic storage devices, mobile phones, flash drives, a MicroSD memory card, a reMarkable tablet and an Apple MacBook Pro, among others.
The anti-graft agency obtained court permission on March 12 to examine and analyse about 14 sets of electronic devices allegedly recovered during the search.
El-Rufai is also seeking N1bn in general, exemplary and aggravated damages over the alleged violation of his fundamental rights.
He wants N300m as compensatory damages for alleged psychological trauma, emotional distress and loss of personal security; N400m as exemplary damages to deter what he described as future misconduct by law enforcement agencies; and N300m as aggravated damages over the alleged “malicious, high-handed, and oppressive nature” of the respondents’ actions.
He is also asking for N100m as the cost of the litigation.
The former governor is facing other legal proceedings, including charges relating to the alleged interception of telephone communications involving the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
