Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied allegations by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that he abused a court-approved medical visit while in custody, insisting that the anti-graft agency misrepresented both the facts and the law surrounding the incident.
In a statement issued on Wednesday on behalf of the former governor, his media adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, described the ICPC’s July 7 statement, titled “El-Rufai and Medical Doctor Abuse Privilege, Violate Court Order,” as inaccurate and called on the commission to retract its claims.
According to the statement, El-Rufai’s absence from court on July 6 resulted from an unresolved medical condition that had been brought to the ICPC’s attention before the court sitting.
The statement said El-Rufai’s personal physician, Professor Bello Abubakar, had earlier sought to examine him at the ICPC facility after first consulting with the commission’s doctor but was allegedly prevented from seeing his patient despite waiting for more than two hours.
It added that El-Rufai’s family subsequently wrote to request that he be taken to the National Hospital, Abuja, for a consultation with the physician on July 7, stressing that the request predated notification of the July 6 court appearance.
“It was against this background—an unresolved medical need, a documented denial of access to his physician the week before, and Malam El-Rufai’s continuing ill health—that the scheduled trip to Kaduna on 6th July became untenable. He did not travel that day for that reason,” the statement said.
The former governor’s camp also faulted the ICPC’s account that El-Rufai had no immediate medical complaints and merely relied on his wife’s request to see his doctor, describing the narrative as false.
“The suggestion that he had ‘no immediate medical complaints’ on 6th July, or that the request to see his doctor was devised to avoid court, is accordingly untrue,” the statement added.
Adekeye further argued that no court order was breached during the hospital visit, maintaining that the only applicable order was issued on April 1, 2026, by Justice R.M. Aikawa in Charge No. FHC/KD/73C/2026.
According to him, the order merely guarantees El-Rufai’s access to medical care while in custody and “does not regulate, restrict, or impose conditions on who may see or be seen by him while that access is being exercised.”
The statement also disputed the ICPC’s description of the hospital visit as a political gathering, alleging that the commission itself changed the appointment from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m., when the hospital was busier, without informing the family until the morning of the visit.
“It was the Commission that moved the appointment from a quiet 5:00pm slot to a high-traffic 10:00am slot… and it was the Commission’s own personnel who were stationed at the scene throughout,” the statement said.
El-Rufai’s camp also criticised the arrest of his physician, Professor Bello Abubakar, demanding that the ICPC disclose the alleged false statement for which he was arrested.
“We call for Professor Abubakar’s immediate and unconditional release pending the ICPC’s disclosure of the specific allegation against him,” the statement read.
The former governor further argued that access to medical care is a legal right, not a privilege, citing the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, as well as the subsisting court order.
It warned that any attempt by the ICPC to restrict El-Rufai’s access to medical care, family or legal counsel would amount to contempt of court.
Concluding, El-Rufai’s camp maintained that “the sequence of events does not support the inference that the medical visit was used to stage a political meeting” and called on the ICPC to withdraw its allegation that he violated a court order.
