The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, adjourned a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai against Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and four others until March 25 for hearing.
Joyce Abdulmalik, the judge, adjourned the case to allow parties in the suit regularise their processes.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr El-Rufai is demanding N1 billion in damages against ICPC, a chief magistrate of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
Mr El-Rufai’s lawyer, Ubong Akpan, informed the court on Wednesday that his team had just responded to ICPC’s counter-affidavit but yet to respond to that of the inspector-general of police.
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In response, ICPC’s lawyer, Abdulsufiano Abubakar, and the police counsel, Ezekiel Rimamsomte, confirmed Mr Akpan’s submission.
The judge then adjourned the matter until 25 March for hearing.
She also ordered that the FCT chief magistrate and the AGF, who were not represented in court, be issued and served with hearing notices for the next sitting.
The suit suffered a setback on 3 March due to the absence of lawyers to the parties except Mr El-Rufai, making Wednesday the second time hearing of the suit has stalled in eight days.
The former governor, who has been in ICPC custody since 19 February, casts his investigations by the ICPC and other government agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as a political persecution stemming from his opposition to President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Mr El-Rufai, a founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), defected from the party last year to join the opposition African Democratic Congress (APC).
Suit
Mr El-Rufai, through his team of lawyers led by Oluwole Iyamu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), urged court to declare that the search warrant issued on 4 February by a chief magistrate in Abuja, which authorised the search and seizure at his residence was invalid, null and void.
He asked the court to declare the search warrant “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.”
He prayed the court to declare that the invasion and search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on 19 February at about 2 p.m. by the and ICPC and Inspector-General of Police amounts to a gross violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights.
He said it amounted to a violation to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution.”
He also urged the court to declare that “any evidence obtained pursuant to the aforesaid invalid warrant and unlawful search is inadmissible in any proceedings against the applicant as it was procured in breach of constitutional safeguards.”
Mr El-Rufai, therefore, sought an order of injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from further relying on, using, or tendering any evidence or items seized during the unlawful search in any investigation, prosecution, or proceedings involving him.
He sought an order directing the ICPC and the inspector-general of police to forthwith retum all items seized from the applicant’s premises during the unlawful search, together with a detailed inventory thereof.
He also sought an order awarding the N1 billion as general, exemplary, and aggravated damages.
Mr El-Rufai did the breakdown of the N1 billion in damages to include “a N300 million as compensatory damages for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security;
“N400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies and vindicate the applicant’s rights.
“N300 million as aggravated damages for the malicious, high-handed and oppressive nature of the respondents’ actions, including the use of a patently defective warrant procured through misleading representations.”
He equally sought N100 million as cost of filing the suit, including legal fees and associated expenses.
As part of his grounds of argument, Mr El-Rufai’s lawyer argued 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 said this was in contravention of Sections 143-148 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015; Section 36 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) Act, 2000, and constitutional protections against arbitrary intrusions.
Specifically, Mr Iyamu argued that Section 143 of the ACJA requires that an application for a search warrant be supported by information in writing and on oath, setting forth reasonable grounds for suspicion, which was absent here as evidenced by the incomplete initiating clause.
He said Section 144 mandates particular descriptions of the place to be searched and the items sought, to prevent general warrants.
He, however, argued that the instant warrant vaguely referred to “the thing aforesaid” without any detail.
Mr Iyamu stated that the execution of the invalid warrant on Feb. 19 resulted in an unlawful invasion of his client’s premises, constituting violations of the rights to dignity (Section 34), personal liberty (Section 35), fair hearing (Section 36), and privacy (Section 37) of the Constitution.
He further argued that the search was conducted without legal justification and in a manner that inflicted humiliation and distress.
ICPC’s response
The ICPC has opposed the suit in a counter-affidavit in which it called for the dismissal of the suit.
It said it received a petition against Mr El-Rufai and commenced an investigation, leading to the search at his residence.
It argued that its operatives acted under a valid search warrant issued on 18 February and executed on 19 February between 1:37 p.m. and 3:56 p.m. at 12 Mambilla Street, Asokoro, Abuja.
The commission said its officials were accompanied by personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, and that the exercise was witnessed by Mr El-Rufai’s wife, Hadiza El-Rufai, and his son, Mohammed El-Rufai.
The ICPC listed the items allegedly recovered from the residence.
It urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Police respond to suit
In their counter-affidavit sworn by Ewa Anthony, a police inspector, the police argued that it had the statutory power to detect, arrest, investigate and prosecute offenders.
They argued that the search carried out at Mr El-Rufai’s residence was executed pursuant to a search warrant issued by a competent court of law.
They disagreed with the ex-governor that that the search warrant was invalid, insisting that it was a genuine court order.
They said that its officers who carried out the operation, complied with all applicable legal procedures in the execution of the search warrant.
The police said Mr El-Rufai is trying to use the court to shield himself from investigation and prosecution.
They also urged the court to dismiss the suit.
Issues arising
Mr El-Rufai has been in ICPC custody since 19 February, after his release from days of detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had detained him after he honoured an invitation on Monday, 16 February.
The former governor, who is also facing prosecution by the State Security Service (SSS) over his claim of tapping National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu’s phone call, remains in ICPC’s custody as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday.
READ ALSO: El-Rufai’s lawyer criticises ICPC over ‘leaks’ linking ex-governor to Cairo properties, demands his release
His has maintained that he is being subjected to political persecution over his affiliation with the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC).
His family has also called for his release from custody, while condemning the search on his house in Abuja last month and ICPC’s framing of the finds from the search.
On Monday, his lawyer accused the ICPC of fabricating narratives linking him to multi-billion-naira properties in Egypt.
The team lead, Mr Akpan, said this in a statement reacting to several news reports alleging that ICPC’s investigations had uncovered six real estate assets in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, allegedly linked to Mr El-Rufai.
The lawyer said “leaks” reported by different news outlets was another instance exposing ICPC’s “descent into a tool of political vendetta through the dissemination of baseless, anonymous ‘leaks’ alleging multi-billion-naira properties in Egypt linked to my client, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.”
The statement alleged that the ICPC has held him hostage without charge since 18 February.
The lawyer also demanded Mr El-Rufai’s release in a letter dated 6 March addressed to the ICPC chair.
(NAN)
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