The legal battle over former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s detention has moved to the Court of Appeal, with the appellate court reserving judgment on his bid to secure bail.
The Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal reserved judgment on Tuesday after hearing arguments over whether the former governor should be released pending the determination of the corruption charges against him.
The case took a sharper turn when counsel to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Ayodeji Adedipe, told the court that El-Rufai had already made three separate attempts to obtain bail before the Kaduna State High Court.
According to Adedipe, all three applications were rejected, but El-Rufai’s appeal challenged the ruling on the second application without disclosing to the appellate court that the third application had also been dismissed.
The ICPC lawyer therefore urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal, describing it as unmeritorious.
El-Rufai’s counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, however, asked the appellate court to overturn the lower court’s decision, arguing that the offences against his client were not capital offences and therefore did not justify continued detention.
Erokoro said keeping El-Rufai in custody was also affecting his ability to prepare his defence, particularly his access to lawyers and witnesses.
The senior lawyer further raised a political dimension to the case, describing El-Rufai as a prominent opposition figure and arguing that the proximity of the criminal charges to an election should be considered.
The ICPC’s position and the defence’s arguments now leave the appellate court with a key question: whether the former governor should remain in custody while his trial continues.
After hearing both sides, the Court of Appeal reserved judgment without fixing a date for its delivery.