Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has instituted a fresh N10 billion fundamental rights suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), alleging that the agency has denied him access to his wife and son while in custody.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1852/2026, was filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13.

El-Rufai, through his lawyer, Ubong Akpan, alleged that the ICPC prevented his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and son, Abba El-Rufai, from visiting him.

The ICPC chairman and the Attorney-General of the Federation were also joined as the second and third defendants in the suit.

The former governor is seeking nine reliefs, including a declaration that his fundamental rights guaranteed under Part IV of the 1999 Constitution remain enforceable despite his detention.

He alleged that the repeated denial of access to his family members, particularly when they sought to provide him with food, medication and other necessities, was without lawful justification or a court order.

According to him, the alleged action violated his rights under Sections 34 and 37 of the Constitution and Articles 5 and 18 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

El-Rufai further alleged that ICPC officers physically restrained and intimidated his wife and son on July 7, describing the incident as an arbitrary interference with his family relationships.

He urged the court to declare that the respondents’ continued denial of family access without lawful authority was “unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.”

He also sought an order directing the respondents to grant him “unhindered and reasonable access” to his family members and counsel throughout his detention, in accordance with an earlier order of the Federal High Court.

El-Rufai claimed that the alleged restriction had prevented his wife and son from providing him with food, medication and other personal necessities.

“This action has subjected the applicant to humiliation, emotional trauma, anxiety and psychological distress,” he alleged.

He further accused the respondents of acting arbitrarily and unlawfully, contrary to Sections 34, 37 and 46 of the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

“The respondents’ conduct amounts to an unjustifiable interference with the applicant’s dignity and family life and is therefore unconstitutional,” he alleged.

In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, El-Rufai’s Principal Secretary, Mohammed Shaba, said the former governor was being detained at the ICPC office in Abuja.

Shaba said the information contained in the affidavit was supplied to him by Asabe on July 12.

According to him, Asabe had been responsible for providing her husband with “food, clothing, medication, and other personal necessities required for his comfort, health, and well-being while in custody.”

He disclosed that El-Rufai is the first defendant in charge number **FHC/KD/73C/2025**, pending before the Federal High Court, Kaduna Judicial Division, with the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the complainant.

Shaba recalled that Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Kaduna division had, on April 1, ordered the ICPC to allow the defendants access to their counsel and personal physicians whenever necessary.

He argued that the order affirmed the principle that detainees should not be held incommunicado and that the ICPC remained subject to judicial oversight concerning the conditions of detention.

The affidavit further stated that El-Rufai retained his fundamental rights under the Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, including the right to humane treatment and reasonable access to family members.

Shaba said Asabe had regularly visited her husband and delivered meals and other items to him without obstruction before July 7.

The latest action is part of a series of legal challenges filed by El-Rufai against the ICPC since the commission began investigating him.

In February, the former governor filed a separate N1 billion fundamental rights suit against the commission over an alleged unlawful search of his Abuja residence.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, challenged the validity of a search warrant issued by a Chief Magistrate of the FCT Magistrates’ Court, which El-Rufai alleged was used to search his residence.

He sought declarations that the search violated his fundamental rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the Constitution.

The N1 billion suit was subsequently amended, with El-Rufai removing the magistrate who issued the warrant as a defendant.