Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Thursday spent a second consecutive night in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission as his lawyers raised an alarm over what they described as an unlawful search of his Abuja residence.
El-Rufai’s ordeal with anti-graft agencies began on Monday when he was first detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
He was released late Wednesday, only to be immediately taken into fresh custody by the ICPC where he has since remained.
The former governor had, prior to his arrest, written to the ICPC through his legal team, indicating his readiness to honour an earlier invitation scheduled for Tuesday.
The development came on the heels of a reported seizure of his international passport by operatives of the Department of State Services at an airport.
An ICPC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Thursday night, confirmed that El-Rufai remained in the commission’s custody but stopped short of disclosing the nature of the investigation.
“He is still very much with us. I cannot say the offence he is being investigated for. I have not really been in the office, but I was informed that the former Kaduna State governor is still with us,” the source said.
The commission had adopted a similar posture on Wednesday night when it confirmed taking custody of the former governor without specifying the charges under investigation.
Unverified claims making the rounds suggest the probe may be connected to the controversial N11.1bn Joint Venture Kaduna light rail project, which stalled during El-Rufai’s tenure.
However, efforts to independently verify this claim were unsuccessful. Repeated calls and text messages to the ICPC spokesman, John Odey, were not returned as of press time.
Compounding the tension, El-Rufai’s media aide, Muyiwa Adekeye, took to X on Thursday to disclose that ICPC operatives had conducted a search of the former governor’s residence on Aso Drive, Abuja, describing the development as deeply troubling.
His lawyer, Ubong Akpan, swiftly condemned the raid, characterising it as a flagrant breach of legal procedure and a violation of his client’s fundamental rights.
“The Aso Drive residence of Malam Nasir El-Rufai was today searched by the ICPC.
Ubong Akpan, Malam El-Rufai’s lawyer, condemned the action as unlawful and a clear violation of legal procedures and fundamental rights,” Adekeye wrote on X.