JUST IN: Kaduna Court Adjourns Ruling on El-Rufai’s Bail Application

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Tuesday appeared before the Kaduna State High Court for the hearing of his bail application in a nine-count charge brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

El-Rufai is facing an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office.

Proceedings were held behind closed doors, as journalists were denied access to the courtroom.

Sources revealed that the initial charges involved both El-Rufai and one Amadu Sule, but Sule’s name was dropped in the amended charge, leaving the former governor as the sole defendant. This was confirmed by his defence counsel, Ubong Akpan (SAN), who addressed journalists after the session.

Akpan explained that the case could not proceed because the defence team was only served with the amended charges in court during the sitting.

“The charges are entirely new to us. We received them this morning while already in court, so the matter could not go on,” he said, adding that the team would review the charges before taking further steps.

The presiding judge, Darius Khobo, adjourned the case to April 14 for the hearing of the bail application.

According to details of the amended charges, the ICPC accused El-Rufai of several infractions during his time in office. These include allegedly approving the release of about ₦11 billion to an unregistered entity for a light rail project that was never executed.

The anti-corruption agency also alleged that he authorised and received about ₦289.8 million as severance allowance, far above the legally approved sum of about ₦20 million, thereby conferring an undue advantage on himself.

In another count, he is accused of mismanaging over $1.08 million from a World Bank loan meant for Kaduna State, in breach of the loan agreement.

The ICPC further alleged that El-Rufai conspired with an associate, said to be at large, to offer inducements to federal investigators in a bid to influence an ongoing probe involving a private firm.

Additional charges include the alleged unlawful award of a ₦4.6 billion CCTV contract in Kaduna metropolis in violation of procurement laws, as well as granting undue advantage to an associate through the same contract.

El-Rufai has denied all allegations. The case is expected to continue with the hearing of his bail application, after which he will also face separate charges before the Federal High Court filed by the ICPC.