March 12, (THEWILL) — The Federal High Court 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 made the order following an ex-parte motion filed by ICPC’s counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, seeking approval for forensic inspection and data extraction from the devices as part of the commission’s ongoing investigation into the ex-governor.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), ICPC operatives recovered about 14 electronic devices from El-Rufai’s Abuja home, including a Sony HD-EGS storage device, ITB transcend storage device, Toshiba storage device, Samsung and Nokia mobile phones, a Blackberry phone, Google IDEOS phone, Remarkable tablet, Apple MacBook Pro, Seagate Freeagent desk external drive, ZTE mobile phone, ten flash drives, and a Microcell memory card.
The ex-parte motion is filed under case number FHC/ABJ/CS/499/2026, between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.
El-Rufai is concurrently challenging the search of his home in a separate fundamental rights suit before the same court, seeking among other reliefs, N1 billion in damages.
Filed on February 20, 2026, through his counsel Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, the suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026) claims that the February 19, 2026 search by ICPC and police officers violated his constitutional rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34–37 of the Constitution.
The former governor also sought a declaration that evidence obtained during the search is inadmissible in any proceeding, an injunction preventing its use, the return of all seized items, and general, exemplary, and aggravated damages of N1 billion.
In its response, ICPC stated that the search followed a valid warrant issued on February 18, and that the operation, conducted between 1:37 pm and 3:56 pm on February 19, was witnessed by El-Rufai’s wife, Hadiza El-Rufai, and son, Mohammed El-Rufai.
The commission emphasized that the investigation stemmed from a petition against the former governor.
The Nigeria Police Force, in a counter affidavit, supported ICPC’s position, insisting that the search was lawful, executed under proper court authority, and that El-Rufai’s claims of invalidity are intended to shield him from ongoing investigations. The police urged the court to dismiss the suit entirely.
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