The former governor is looking for N10 billion in damages, alleging that the fee prevented his spouse, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, from visiting him whereas he was in custody.
He additionally requested the courtroom to declare that his basic rights beneath Part IV of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, stay protected regardless of his detention.
In its response, the ICPC and its chairman denied the allegations in El-Rufai’s supporting affidavit.
John Uche, a Chief Anti-Corruption Assistant in the fee’s Internal Security Support Unit, mentioned El-Rufai was being held lawfully beneath an order issued by the Federal High Court in Kaduna in case quantity FHC/KD/73C/2025.
Uche acknowledged that the fee facilitated a medical go to for El-Rufai on July 7, in line with a courtroom order permitting entry to his private doctor. He mentioned the go to was accompanied by ICPC officers and El-Rufai’s spouse.
According to him, the fee later acquired stories that the hospital go to had allegedly changed into a political assembly, in violation of its safety procedures.
He mentioned the event prompted the ICPC to introduce short-term restrictions on visits whereas it reviewed its safety preparations.
Uche additionally alleged that El-Rufai’s son, Abba, got here to the fee’s workplace on July 7 to go to his father however was denied entry. He claimed that Abba subsequently lay in a gutter and repeatedly rubbed his leg towards its edge.
The officer maintained that the fee’s CCTV system recorded actions inside and round its premises and that the recordings had not been altered.
He additional alleged that Asabe was introduced into the ICPC premises by means of an unauthorised association on July 4, at about 7:35pm, after official visiting hours. According to him, some fee officers had been concerned and are going through disciplinary motion.
The ICPC mentioned it quickly suspended Asabe’s visits as a result of her alleged disregard for entry procedures introduced a safety danger.
In an software filed on September 9, El-Rufai requested the courtroom to order the fee to produce the whole, unedited CCTV recordings protecting June 7, July 4 and July 7.
He argued that the three clips submitted by the ICPC, titled “The Scuffle,” “The Son Being Taken Away” and “Unauthorised Entry,” didn’t set up that the fee had disclosed every part captured by its cameras.
He additionally requested customer registers, entry and exit data, and different paperwork relating to visits by his spouse and different relations from June 7 till the date of the courtroom order.
In addition, he sought permission to query Sadiq Baba, who licensed the CCTV exhibit, and Uche, who swore to the fee’s counter-affidavit.
El-Rufai needed the officers to clarify how the clips had been selected, copied and authorized, whether or not the opposite recordings existed and why that they had not been produced.
He additionally requested the courtroom to direct that any footage introduced by the fee be performed in open courtroom in the presence of each events and their legal professionals.
The former governor argued that the lacking recordings may assist make clear disputed accounts of the incidents.
“The omitted portion of July 7 at about 14:53 shows the applicant’s son being dragged, and his leg trapped in the gutter,” he mentioned.
“The clip at about 14:54:55 shows the officer falling at a ditch. Those images contradict the account in the Counter Affidavit,” he added.
El-Rufai additional argued that the June 7 recording would show that the ICPC had invited his spouse into its premises on the primary evening of his detention.
He maintained that the July 4 footage was mandatory to take a look at the fee’s allegation that Asabe had been “smuggled” into the ability.
The former governor additionally cited Section 36(3) of the Constitution, which offers for public courtroom proceedings, and Section 167(d) of the Evidence Act, 2011, arguing that the courtroom may draw an adversarial inference if related proof was withheld.
The ICPC opposed his request, insisting that the total recordings contained delicate data that might compromise the safety of its premises if displayed publicly.
The fee argued that if the courtroom thought-about it mandatory to study the whole footage, it may very well be performed in the decide’s chambers.
The courtroom’s ruling allows either side to current selected parts of the recordings in open courtroom, with every social gathering restricted to 20 minutes, forward of the following listening to on November 3.
