The legal battles of former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, intensified on Wednesday following the refusal of a Kaduna State High Court to grant him a fresh bail application.
The presiding judge held that the defence failed to present any new evidence, substantial facts, or fresh information that would justify a review or reversal of the court’s previous ruling on his detention.
With this latest judicial decision, the 66-year-old former governor will remain in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) pending the conclusion or further acceleration of his substantive trial.
This development comes on the heels of complex parallel legal battles across both state and federal jurisdictions. While El-Rufai recently secured conditional bails regarding separate charges—including a ₦200 million bail from a Federal High Court in Kaduna over money laundering allegations and a ₦100 million bail from an Abuja Federal High Court over a separate national security charge involving the alleged interception of communications—he has struggled to secure his freedom at the Kaduna State High Court.
The state high court had previously denied his release on the grounds of the sheer gravity of the 9-count charge filed against him by the ICPC, which borders on systemic abuse of office, procurement fraud, and the inflation of severance packages during his tenure between 2015 and 2023.
During the resumed proceedings, the defense had sought to vary the conditions or secure a fresh window of release, arguing community ties and lingering health concerns that required specialist medical attention.
However, the prosecution, led by the anti-graft agency, vigorously resisted the application. The ICPC maintained its stance that the former governor poses a distinct flight risk and could potentially interfere with vital witnesses and ongoing investigations tied to co-suspects who remain at large.
Aligning with the prosecution’s arguments, the court ruled that the defense had not met the necessary legal threshold to alter the status quo. The judge reaffirmed that without concrete new material facts, the court could not undo its prior findings, ordering that the former governor remain under custody as the day-to-day accelerated hearings move forward.
