Court Dismisses El-Rufai’s Suit Seeking To Stop ICPC, Others From Freezing Assets
The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai seeking to restrain the ICPC, EFCC and other agencies from freezing his bank accounts or seizing his assets.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik dismissed the suit on Thursday, ruling that it amounted to an abuse of court process because El-Rufai had filed a similar case before the FCT High Court.
The judge also agreed with the respondents that the court could not be used to prevent law enforcement agencies from carrying out their statutory duties.
Justice Abdulmalik described the suit as speculative and lacking merit.
She further held that El-Rufai’s case disclosed no reasonable cause of action against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Department of State Services (DSS) and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), leading to their names being struck out of the suit.
El-Rufai had filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/368/2026, seeking orders to prevent the agencies from freezing his bank accounts, seizing or forfeiting his properties pending the determination of the substantive case.
The former governor also sought declarations that his severance benefits received after his tenure as Kaduna governor between 2015 and 2023 were lawfully earned and could not be treated as proceeds of crime.
He argued that properties acquired with the funds were legally obtained and that any attempt to freeze his accounts or seize his assets without credible evidence would violate his constitutional rights, including the presumption of innocence and right to fair hearing.
El-Rufai also sought a perpetual injunction against the agencies and N1 billion in damages for alleged psychological trauma, reputational damage and anticipated violations of his rights. He further demanded N100 million as litigation costs.
The ICPC had urged the court to dismiss the case, describing it as incompetent and an abuse of court process.
The commission argued that El-Rufai had instituted multiple cases arising from the same investigation and was seeking similar reliefs before different courts.
It also accused him of forum shopping, noting that he had previously challenged the search of his residence and other actions by the agencies in separate suits before the Federal High Court and FCT High Court.
The DSS similarly sought to have its name removed from the suit, while the AGF argued that El-Rufai’s application was speculative.
The AGF maintained that interim forfeiture orders are lawful investigative tools and do not, by themselves, amount to violations of constitutional rights.
The court’s ruling leaves the agencies free from the specific restraining orders sought by the former governor in the dismissed suit.
