Former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has described his alleged unlawful detention by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) as a disgrace to legal practice, a disgrace to judicial authority and a borderline criminal abuse of the court system.
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In a letter dated March 6, 2026, addressed to the ICPC Chairman, the former governor, through his counsel, Ubong Esop Akpan, drew the attention of the ICPC boss to a notice of preliminary objection dated March 6 filed at the Bwari Magisterial Division seeking an order nullifying what he described as the Commission’s fraudulent ex parte attempt to extend an illegal detention warrant before the Bwari Magistrate Court.
El-Rufai’s counsel also referred to a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the former governor against the ICPC, the Chief Magistrate, Chief Magistrate Court, Bwari, Abuja, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), seeking to stay and prohibit any continued or further use of legal processes to detain him or extend what he described as a “laughable piece of legal chicanery referred to as a remand order.”
According to the letter, the ICPC, staffed by officers who hold themselves out as legal practitioners and ministers in the temple of justice, has “descended into the gutter of forum shopping, fraudulent misrepresentation and oppressive abuse of power.”
“The legal profession in Nigeria is built on the twin pillars of honour and integrity. Every lawyer who signs his name to a process holds the profession in his hands. By your conduct in this matter, you have brought the profession into disrepute, made a mockery of the oath you swore and demonstrated that you are unworthy of the privilege of practising law in Nigeria,” the letter read.
Akpan stated that the original remand order dated February 19 was obtained by the ICPC through representations made on oath. He added that by virtue of Section 293(2)(b) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), the application for remand must be “verified on oath and contain reasons for the remand request.”
The letter accused the ICPC of breaching every material undertaking, noting that the 14-day remand period expired on March 4 and that El-Rufai has not been charged with any offence before a court of competent jurisdiction.
The lawyer said there was no probable cause, no diligent investigation and no charge filed against his client.
He further alleged that the original order was obtained by fraud and that the renewal application seeks to perpetuate the alleged fraud. He also claimed that the original order dated February 19 has never been served on El-Rufai or his counsel.
“This is not a mere procedural irregularity; it is a fundamental violation of the right to fair hearing,” he stated.
Akpan alleged that the ICPC’s deliberate failure to serve the order was calculated to conceal its existence from his client, deny him the opportunity to challenge it and perpetuate an illegal detention without giving him a chance to be heard.
El-Rufai’s counsel also accused the commission of failing to disclose that money laundering offences fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, while attempting to obtain orders from a Magistrate Court despite knowing that such orders would not ordinarily be granted in a proper affidavit in support.
“If your officers swore to facts they knew to be false, they have committed perjury — a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment,” he said, adding that the conduct of the ICPC is dishonourable and brings the legal profession into disrepute.
He further accused the commission of making a mockery of the Constitution by detaining a citizen without lawful authority, disregarding the ACJA by ignoring its mandatory provisions, violating the rules of professional conduct by engaging in behaviour that would shame a junior lawyer and breaching their oath of office by treating the liberty of a citizen with reckless abandon.
The lawyer therefore demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Mallam El-Rufai, the immediate withdrawal of the purported ex parte motion for the renewal of detention pending before the Chief Magistrate Court in Bwari, and a public apology to be published in three national newspapers acknowledging wrongful conduct and violation of the fundamental rights of his client.
El-Rufai is also seeking N2 billion in damages against the ICPC, its chairman personally and any other officers involved in the matter.
Akpan added that the matter would be referred to the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector-General of Police for investigation and possible prosecution of officers who allegedly swore to false affidavits in support of both the original application and the purported renewal application.
He also disclosed that a formal complaint would be lodged with the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against every lawyer in the employ of the ICPC who participated in what he described as disgraceful conduct, seeking their removal from the roll of legal practitioners for conduct unbecoming of members of the profession.
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