Court dismisses El-Rufai's N120 million rights suit against SSS, EFCC, ICPC, AGF

The FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday, dismissed former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s N120 million fundamental rights enforcement suit, which he instituted following an attempt to arrest him by security operatives at the airport in Abuja earlier in the year.

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Mr El-Rufai, who has been detained since February, sued the State Security Service (SSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

Mr El-Rufai, who sought a total of N120 million in damages against the security agencies, alleged that they violated his rights by seizing his passport and attempting to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja upon his arrival in the country in February.

Judge Sylvanus Oriji said the case lacked merit and awarded N200,000 in costs against Mr El-Rufai in favour of each of the four respondents. The fines totalled N800,000.

Mr Oriji held that there was nothing wrong with the attempt by SSS operatives to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

He ruled that SSS, a secret police organisation, acted within its powers “to place persons of interest on its watchlist and arrest them where necessary.”

He added that the seizure of Mr El-Rufai’s passport by SSS operatives at the airport was lawful and within the agency’s powers.

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The judge threw out Mr El-Rufai’s argument that the attempted arrest was unlawful because there was no warrant.

He added that the letters of invitation issued by the EFCC and ICPC were not a violation of Mr El-Rufai’s human rights.

According to the judge, the agencies’ invitations fell within their jurisdiction to ensure Mr El-Rufai provided information regarding his ongoing interrogation.

The judge ruled that Mr El-Rufai cannot use the court “to prevent the agencies from performing their statutory duties.”

He therefore dismissed the suit for lacking merit.

Background

PREMIUM TIMES reported that SSS operatives attempted to arrest Mr El-Rufai on 12 February, following his arrival from Cairo, Egypt.

While the arrest was unsuccessful, the security operatives seized the former governor’s passport.

The following day, Mr El-Rufai alleged during a live interview on ‘Prime Time’, an Arise Television programme, that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, was behind the alleged attempt to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

He said he knew Mr Ribadu ordered his arrest from listening to a wire-tapped phone call made by Mr Ribadu instructing security operatives to carry out his arrest.

Ubong Akpan, one of Mr El-Rufai’s lawyers, condemned the dramatic incident at the Abuja airport at the time, linking the attempted arrest to a letter of invitation from the EFCC.

He added that his law firm wrote to the agency, notifying it that Mr El-Rufai would honour its invitation on 16 February.

The former governor was later detained after honoring the invitation. He was released two days after, and subsequently re-arrested by SSS operatives who handed him over to the ICPC.

He has since been in the custody of the ICPC which is prosecuting the former governor in two separate cases in Kaduna on money laundering and abuse of office charges stemming from his activities as the Kaduna State governor.

The ICPC announced a plan in March to prosecute five security officials for allegedly receiving bribes to grant access to Mr El-Rufai’s supporters to restricted areas of the Abuja airport when he arrived in Nigeria in February.

On 23 April, SSS arraigned Mr El-Rufai before the Federal High Court in Abuja, over his claim of wiretapping Mr El-Rufai’s phone call.

String of legal battles

Monday’s judgement came about 11 days after Judge Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja, dismissed another fundamental rights suit Mr El-Rufai filed, in which he had sought to restrain the EFCC, ICPC, the SSS and the AGF from freezing his bank accounts or seizing his properties. Ms Abdulmalik threw out the case on 8 October.

Mr El-Rufai, who has been detained by the ICPC since February based on a court order issued in an ongoing corruption proceeding instituted by the ICPC against him in Kaduna, still has at least two other fundamental human rights cases in court.

Mr El-Rufai filed a suit in February seeking N1 billion in damages against the ICPC and other defendants for alleged violations of his rights during the search conducted at his Abuja residence on 19 February.

Mr El-Rufai filed the N1 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit on 20 February following his detention and the search of his Abuja home.

He asked the court to declare that the search warrant issued on 4 February by the FCT chief magistrate, which authorised the search and seizure at his residence, was invalid, null, and void.

He argued the search violated his rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy, and sought an injunction to restrain the respondents from using any seized evidence.

The ICPC opposed the suit, stating in a counter-affidavit that it acted on a petition against El-Rufai and under statutory powers to investigate, arrest, and prosecute offenders.

The police added that the search was conducted under a warrant issued by a competent court.

In August, he filed a N10 billion suit against the ICPC for allegedly stopping him from seeing his wife, Aichatou Asabe, and his son, Abba El-Rufai, while they were in custody.

The ICPC is currently prosecuting him in two separate corruption cases before two courts in Kaduna.

The SSS is also prosecuting him before the Federal High Court in Abuja on phone tapping charges.