ICPC, Defence Clash as El-Rufai Seeks Freedom Pending Trial

The legal battle over the detention of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has moved to the Court of Appeal, which has reserved judgment on his application for bail.

The Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal reserved judgment on Tuesday after hearing arguments on whether the former governor should be released pending the determination of the corruption charges against him.

The case took a sharper turn when counsel to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Ayodeji Adedipe, informed the court that El-Rufai had made three separate attempts to secure bail before the Kaduna State High Court.

According to Adedipe, all three applications were rejected. He, however, noted that El-Rufai’s appeal challenged the ruling on the second application without informing the appellate court that the third application had also been dismissed.

The ICPC lawyer therefore urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal, describing it as unmeritorious.

However, El-Rufai’s counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, asked the appellate court to overturn the lower court’s decision, arguing that the offences against his client were not capital offences and therefore did not warrant his continued detention.

Erokoro also argued that keeping El-Rufai in custody was affecting his ability to prepare his defence, particularly his access to lawyers and witnesses.

The senior lawyer further introduced a political dimension to the case, describing El-Rufai as a prominent opposition figure and urging the court to consider the proximity of the criminal charges to an election.

The positions of the ICPC and the defence have left the appellate court with the key question of whether the former governor should remain in custody while his trial continues.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the Court of Appeal reserved judgment without fixing a date for its delivery.