A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday authorised the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to access and examine electronic gadgets recovered from the Abuja home of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
The approval was granted by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik after listening to an ex parte motion presented by ICPC counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha.
While moving the application, the lawyer asked the court to permit the anti-graft agency to unlock and scrutinise the devices for inspection, forensic analysis and data extraction as part of an ongoing investigation involving the former governor.
The gadgets were reportedly seized by ICPC operatives during a search carried out at El-Rufai’s residence in Abuja.
In her ruling, Justice Abdulmalik gave the commission the green light to examine the contents of the devices. This includes materials such as official documents, WhatsApp messages, text conversations, photographs, call histories and other digital records.
Items listed in the court order include a Sony HD-EGS storage device, a 1TB Transcend storage device, a Toshiba storage drive, a Samsung phone, a Nokia N95 (8GB), a Blackberry phone and a Google IDEOS handset.
Other devices are a Samsung storage device (SPO802N), a Remarkable tablet, an Apple MacBook Pro, a Seagate FreeAgent Desk external hard drive, a ZTE mobile phone, ten flash drives and a Microcell memory card.
The matter, filed as suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/499/2026, lists the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the applicant and Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai as the respondent.
Justice Abdulmalik held that the anti-corruption agency had the legal right to inspect the items seized during its investigation in order to conduct forensic analysis.
Meanwhile, El-Rufai has instituted a separate action before the same court contesting the legality of the search carried out at his residence and seeking N1 billion in damages.
In the fundamental rights enforcement suit, the former governor named the ICPC, the Chief Magistrate of the Magistrate Court of the Federal Capital Territory, the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the first to fourth respondents.
In the originating motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026 and dated February 20, his lawyer, Oluwole Iyamu (SAN), asked the court to grant seven reliefs.
El-Rufai is requesting a declaration that the search conducted at his residence located at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on February 19 by ICPC officials and police officers violated his constitutional rights.
He argued that the operation infringed on his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing and privacy as guaranteed under Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution.
However, the ICPC insisted that its operatives carried out the search alongside officers of the Nigeria Police Force. The agency added that the exercise was witnessed by El-Rufai’s wife, Hadiza El-Rufai, and his son, Mohammed El-Rufai, and urged the court to dismiss the suit.
The police also filed a separate counter-affidavit through Inspector Ewa Anthony, defending their involvement in the operation.
According to the police, they possess the statutory mandate to detect, investigate, arrest and prosecute criminal suspects.
They further maintained that the search at El-Rufai’s residence was conducted under the authority of a valid warrant issued by a competent court.
The police said all procedures required by law were followed while executing the warrant, accusing the former governor of attempting to use the legal process to avoid investigation and possible prosecution. They therefore asked the court to dismiss the case in its entirety.
