A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, seeking to prevent the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and other agencies from freezing his bank accounts.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik dismissed the case, describing it as an abuse of court process because El-Rufai had filed a similar suit at the FCT High Court.
The judge also agreed with the respondents that courts could not be used to prevent law enforcement agencies from carrying out their statutory duties.
The suit, dated February 23, 2026, and filed the following day by El-Rufai’s lawyer, Oluwole Iyamu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought an interim injunction directing the respondents to maintain the status quo.
El-Rufai also sought a declaration that his severance pay, received after completing his two-term tenure as Kaduna State governor between 2015 and 2023, could not reasonably be suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
The respondents included the ICPC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
The ICPC, through its lawyer, Abdul Mohammed, SAN, urged the court to dismiss the suit, describing it as incompetent and an abuse of court process.
The DSS, represented by Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, also asked the court to strike out the case for being incompetent.
In a counter-affidavit, the Attorney-General of the Federation argued that the office was only a necessary party in cases directly involving the Federal Government.
The court held that the suit was speculative and lacked merit, finding that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action against the EFCC, DSS and Attorney-General of the Federation. It subsequently struck out their names from the suit.
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