Court grants ICPC access to analyse devices recovered from El-Rufai’s residence

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, granted the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) permission to access and analyse electronic devices recovered from the residence of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik approved the order following an ex-parte motion filed by ICPC’s lawyer, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, seeking authorisation for the commission to inspect, conduct forensic examinations, and extract data from the devices in connection with its ongoing investigation into the former governor.

Recalled that, ICPC operatives recovered 14 electronic devices from El-Rufai’s Abuja residence, including a Sony HD-EGS storage device, ITB Transcend storage device, Toshiba storage device, Samsung and Nokia mobile phones, a Blackberry device, Google IDEOS phone, Samsung storage device (SPO802N), Remarkable tablet, Apple MacBook Pro, Seagate FreeAgent desk external drive, ZTE mobile phone, ten flash drives, and a microSD card.

ALSO READ: Waru-Pozema: Wike unveils plan to develop first district in FCT

The ex-parte motion is part of a suit marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/499/2026, between the Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.

El-Rufai is also challenging the search in a separate suit, seeking N1 billion in damages, under case FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, filed on February 20 by Oluwole Iyamu.

In his fundamental rights enforcement suit, El-Rufai alleged that the February 19 search of his residence at 12 Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, violated his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Nigerian Constitution.

He also contends that any evidence obtained from the search is inadmissible, seeking an injunction preventing its use in any proceedings against him.

Additionally, he demands the immediate return of all seized items along with an inventory, and claims N1 billion in general, exemplary, and aggravated damages.

In response, ICPC maintained that the search followed a valid warrant issued on February 18, executed on February 19 between 1:37 pm and 3:56 pm at the former governor’s residence.

The case remains pending before the Federal High Court, with the authorisation allowing ICPC to continue its forensic examination of the recovered devices.