El-Rufai Returns To Federal High Court Today

The corruption trial of Kaduna State former Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, resumes today (Wednesday) at the Federal High Court in Kaduna.

Naija News reports that the court arrangement comes less than 24 hours after he sat through an eight-hour session at the Kaduna State High Court.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) arraigned El-Rufai before Justice Darius Khobo of the state High Court on Tuesday, where he faces charges of alleged financial misconduct and abuse of office while in power.

The former governor is also standing trial on similar charges at the Federal High Court, where he was granted bail some months ago.

At Tuesday’s hearing, a forensic investigator with the Department of State Services (DSS), Segun Kayode, told the court that El-Rufai and some of his associates allegedly set aside $600,000 to pay off officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and some middlemen.

Kayode, the first prosecution witness, said the sum was split into $500,000 and $100,000, and that forensic audio recordings captured conversations between the former governor and some of his alleged associates.

He said the recordings dwelt on alleged moves to derail an EFCC investigation into a company called Singularity.

The witness named a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Bashir El-Rufai among those allegedly mentioned in the conversations.

According to him, the individuals were allegedly told to meet Ahmadu Sule to obtain a template previously used to wind up another firm, so they could apply the same method to Singularity.

Kayode further claimed that the discussions included plans to liquidate the company in both Nigeria and Mauritius, where the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit was said to be investigating it.

He also alleged that the recordings captured talks on how to stop the EFCC from looking into IHS, a company he said was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The claims were tendered as part of the prosecution’s case against the former governor and have yet to be proven in court.

The sitting ran from 12:26pm to 8:18 pm and lasted almost eight hours, with about two hours spent playing the audio recordings.

Before the witness gave evidence, El-Rufai’s lead counsel, Paul Erokoro (SAN), objected to his testimony on the grounds that his name and a summary of his evidence were not contained in the prosecution’s proof of evidence.

Erokoro argued that the omission breached his client’s right to a fair hearing, insisting that the defence had a right to know in advance the evidence it was expected to respond to.

Counsel to the ICPC, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), however, countered that Kayode appeared on subpoena, adding that the omission alone did not make his testimony inadmissible.

Tuesday’s hearing came days after the Court of Appeal in Kaduna threw out El-Rufai’s appeal against the state High Court’s decision to deny him bail.

In its judgment delivered on October 9, the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s ruling, holding that the former governor failed to show sufficient grounds to justify overturning the bail refusal.

El-Rufai has remained in ICPC custody since February 18, 2026, over allegations of financial misconduct tied to his administration of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023.