Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has filed a ₦1 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, challenging what he described as the unlawful invasion and search of his Abuja residence.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on February 20 by El-Rufai’s counsel, Oluwole Iyamu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
At the centre of the case is a search warrant issued on February 4 by a Chief Magistrate of the FCT Magistrates’ Court, which El-Rufai is asking the court to declare invalid, null, and void.
The former governor argued 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.”
According to court documents, ICPC operatives and officers of the Nigeria Police Force executed the warrant on February 19 at approximately 2 pm, entering El-Rufai’s residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja.
El-Rufai named the ICPC as the first respondent, with the Chief Magistrate of the FCT Magistrates’ Court, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General of the Federation listed as second to fourth respondents.
The former governor is seeking a declaration that the search violated his fundamental rights, arguing that it “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 is also asking the court to rule 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.”
El-Rufai wants the court to restrain the respondents from using any items seized during the search in any investigation or prosecution against him.
He is also seeking “an order directing the 1st and 3rd respondents to forthwith return all items seized from the applicant’s premises during the unlawful search, together with a detailed inventory thereof.”
The former governor is demanding ₦1 billion in damages, broken down into ₦300 million as compensatory damages for psychological trauma and emotional distress, ₦400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies, and ₦300 million as aggravated damages for what he described as the malicious and oppressive nature of the respondents’ actions. He also sought ₦100 million to cover the cost of filing the suit.
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His lawyer, Iyamu, argued that the warrant was fundamentally defective on multiple grounds.
He said the document lacked specificity in describing items to be seized, contained material typographical errors, had ambiguous execution terms, was overbroad in its directives, and lacked verifiable probable cause.
“Section 143 of the ACJA requires that an application for a search warrant be supported by information in writing and on oath, setting forth reasonable grounds for suspicion,” Iyamu said, adding that this requirement was not met.
He argued that the warrant vaguely referred to “the thing aforesaid” without providing detail, violating Section 144 which mandates specific descriptions of the place to be searched and items sought.
“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,” Iyamu submitted.
“Section 147 allows direction to specified persons, but the warrant’s indiscriminate addressing to ‘all officers’ is overbroad and unaccountable,” he added.
“Section 148 permits execution at reasonable times, but the contradictory language creates ambiguity, undermining procedural clarity,” the lawyer further argued.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, Mohammed Shaba, a Principal Secretary to El-Rufai, said ICPC and police officers stormed the residence under a defective warrant and seized personal documents and electronic devices without specifying what they were looking for.
Shaba said the “search warrant did not specify the properties or items being searched for” and alleged that the officers failed to follow proper procedures.
He added that the operation caused “undue humiliation, psychological trauma, and distress” and that none of the seized items had been returned.