The Federal High Court in Kaduna has remanded former Kaduna State governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), after adjourning his bail hearing to April 14.
ENigeria Newspaper learnt that the decision followed submissions from both the defence and the prosecution in his ongoing corruption trial.
El-Rufai was recently arraigned on a 10-count charge by the ICPC, which accuses him of unlawfully receiving approximately N579 million as severance allowance and of laundering $320,800 through multiple foreign transactions between 2017 and 2023. Prosecutors allege that he conspired to conceal the origin of these funds, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
This marks the second adjournment of El-Rufai’s bail application. The court had previously postponed ruling on March 24 and March 31 after arguments from legal counsels on both sides.
While the defence cited constitutional grounds to request bail, the prosecution opposed it, highlighting the seriousness of the charges and the potential risk of interference with ongoing investigations. El-Rufai has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
According to the charge sheet (KDH/KAD/ICPC/01/26), the alleged offences span the period between 2015 and 2025. Among the allegations is that El-Rufai, in December 2016, directed the Kaduna State Government to approve an N11 billion payment to Indokaduna MRTS JV Nigeria Limited for a light rail project that was never executed.
He is also accused of authorizing and receiving severance payments exceeding N289 million in 2020 and 2023, and of improperly handling $1,085,066.38 in World Bank loan funds between March and November 2022.
El-Rufai is additionally scheduled to appear before the State High Court on April 10 in a separate ICPC case. That proceeding had been stalled after the second defendant, Amadu Sule (Leda), failed to appear, delaying the arraignment.
