EL-RUFAI files N1bn lawsuit against ICPC over unlawful invasion and search of his Abuja residence

Tuesday, February 24 2026 - Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has filed a N1 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over what he described as an unlawful invasion and search of his Abuja residence, insisting the warrant used for the operation was defective and unconstitutional.

In the suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, El-Rufai, through his lawyers led by Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, asked the court to declare that the search warrant issued on February 4 by the Chief Magistrate of the FCT Magistrate Court was “invalid, null and void.”

He urged the court to hold that the warrant was “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.”

El-Rufai also wants the court to declare that the invasion and search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on February 19 at about 2pm, carried out by agents of the ICPC and the Inspector-General of Police, “under the aforesaid invalid warrant, amounts to a gross violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution.”

He further asked 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.”

The former governor is also seeking an injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from relying on any items seized during the search, as well as an order directing the ICPC and the I-G “to forthwith return all items seized from the applicant’s premises during the unlawful search, together with a detailed inventory thereof.”

In his damages claim, El-Rufai requested “an order awarding the sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) as general, exemplary, and aggravated damages against the respondents jointly and severally for the violations of the applicant’s fundamental rights, including trespass, unlawful seizure, and the resultant psychological trauma, humiliation, distress, infringement of privacy, and reputational harm.”

He broke down the N1 billion to include “a N300 million as compensatory damages for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security; a N400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies and vindicate the applicant’s rights; a 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 also sought N100 million as the cost of filing the suit, including legal fees and associated expenses.

Arguing the grounds for the application, Iyamu said the warrant was fundamentally defective, alleging it lacked specificity and contained serious errors. He cited provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 and said, “Section 146 stipulates that the warrant must be in the prescribed form, free from defects that could mislead, but the document is riddled with errors in the address, date, and district designation; Section 147 allows direction to specified persons, but the warrant’s indiscriminate addressing to ‘all officers is overbroad and unaccountable. Section 148 permits execution at reasonable times, but the contradictory language creates ambiguity, undermining procedural clarity.”

He also argued, “Evidence obtained without a valid warrant is unlawful and inadmissible,” citing case law including C.O.P. v. Omoh (1969) NCLR 137 and Fawehinmi v. IGP (2000) 7 NWLR (Pt. 665) 481.

In an affidavit in support, a principal secretary to the former governor, Mohammed Shaba, alleged that on February 19 at about 2pm, officers from the ICPC and Nigeria Police Force entered the residence under a purported warrant issued on or about February 4. He claimed the “search warrant did not specify the properties or items being searched for,” and further alleged that “during the invasion, the officers searched the applicant’s premises without lawful authority, seized personal items including documents and electronic devices, and caused the applicant undue humiliation, psychological trauma, and distress.”

The suit adds to a growing list of legal disputes linked to investigations involving the former governor, with the court expected to fix dates for further proceedings as the respondents prepare their replies.