The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a N1 billion fundamental rights 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 (ICPC).
Fagbemi, through a lawyer from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Maimuna Lami-Shiru, urged Justice Joyce Abdulmalik to dismiss the suit, arguing that it lacked merit and that El-Rufai had failed to establish a reasonable cause of action.
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, has the ICPC and the Inspector-General of Police as respondents.
El-Rufai filed the suit to challenge the legality of the search warrant used by ICPC operatives to search his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on February 19.
He is asking the court to declare the warrant, which was issued on February 18 by a Chief Magistrate, invalid and unconstitutional. He alleged that the warrant contained drafting errors, ambiguity, excessive scope and lacked probable cause.
The former governor argued that the search and seizure violated his constitutional rights to privacy, dignity, personal liberty and fair hearing under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the Nigerian Constitution.
At Monday’s proceedings, the AGF informed the court that he had filed a counter-affidavit challenging the competence of the suit. He denied that El-Rufai’s rights were violated and maintained that the ICPC and police acted within the law.
The ICPC had also filed a counter-affidavit seeking dismissal of the case. The commission said the search was carried out as part of an investigation into a petition against the former governor and was conducted under a valid search warrant issued by a competent court.
The police similarly defended the operation, stating that its officers lawfully executed the warrant and had statutory powers to detect, arrest, investigate and prosecute offenders.
El-Rufai is seeking an order preventing the authorities from using or presenting items seized during the search as evidence against him. He also wants the seized items returned along with a detailed inventory.
The items listed by the ICPC include electronic storage devices, mobile phones, flash drives, a MicroSD card, a reMarkable tablet and an Apple MacBook Pro.
The commission obtained court approval on March 12 to examine and analyse about 14 electronic devices allegedly recovered during the search.
El-Rufai is seeking N1 billion in damages, comprising N300 million in compensatory damages, N400 million in exemplary damages and N300 million in aggravated damages. He is also demanding N100 million as litigation costs.
Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the case until October 27 to allow El-Rufai’s lawyer, Akinyemi Aremu, to respond to the AGF’s counter-affidavit.
The former governor is also facing other legal proceedings, including charges relating to the alleged interception of telephone communications involving the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
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