Court faults El-Rufai's N1b rights enforcement suit
From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja A Federal High Court in Abuja has faulted the rights enforcement suit filed by a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, in which, he is
From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja
A Federal High Court in Abuja has faulted the rights enforcement suit filed by a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, in which, he is among others, seeking N1billion compensation.
Listed as respondents in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, are the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Chief Magistrate at the Magistrate’s Court of the FCT, Abuja; the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
On Wednesday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik noted that the Chief Magistrate listed as the second respondent, was not properly identified.
Justice Abdulmalik said by the way the applicant merely referred to the second respondent as the Chief Magistrate at the Magistrate’s Court of the FCT, Abuja, he created the impression that the FCT has only one Chief Magistrate.
The judge ordered El-Rufai rectify the error and be more specific in his description of the Chief Magistrate he planned to sue.
Justice adjourned till March 31 for the hearing of the ex-parte application filed by El-Rufai for leave to serve the suit's originating documents on the second and fourth respondents through substituted means.
El-Rufai is, by the suit, challenging the propriety of the recent search of his Asokoro, Abuja house by agents of the ICPC, during which some items were recovered.
The ex-governor, who is seeking a number of reliefs, wants the court to declare that the search warrant issued on February 4 by the Chief Magistrate, Magistrate’s Court of the FCT (2nd respondent), authorising the search of his residence and seizure of items, was invalid, null and void.
He also wants a declaration that the search warrant is “null and void for lack of particularity, 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.”
El-Rufai is urging the court to declare that the alleged invasion and search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja on February 19 at about 2pm by agents of ICPC and IGP, who were armed with the said warrant, amounts to a gross violation of his rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution.
He wants the court to award 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.”
It is his contention that the search warrant was fundamentally defective, lacking specificity in the description of items to be seized, containing material typographical errors, ambiguous execution terms, overbroad directives, and no verifiable probable cause.
He argued that the lack of specificity in the warrant contravenes sections 143-148 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015; Section 36 of the ICPC Act, 2000, and constitutional protections against arbitrary intrusions.
