El-Rufai’s Trial Resumes at Federal High Court After Eight-Hour Hearing
The corruption trial of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai was scheduled to continue on Wednesday at the Federal High Court in Kaduna, barely a day after an eight-hour hearing at the Kaduna State High Court over allegations of financial misconduct and abuse of office.
El-Rufai appeared on Tuesday before Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court, where he is being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged financial improprieties during his tenure as governor.
The former governor also faces similar charges before the Federal High Court, where he had reportedly been granted bail some months earlier.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, a forensic investigator with the State Security Service, Segun Kayode, alleged that El-Rufai and some of his associates had earmarked $600,000 to influence officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and intermediaries.
Kayode, the first prosecution witness, told the court that $500,000 and $100,000 had allegedly been set aside for the payments.
He said forensic audio recordings captured conversations involving the former governor and some suspected associates concerning alleged attempts to obstruct an EFCC investigation into a company identified as Singularity.
According to the witness, the recordings contained discussions about efforts to frustrate the investigation.
Kayode identified a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Bashir El-Rufai among those allegedly mentioned in the conversations.
He told the court that individuals involved in the discussions had allegedly been directed to contact Ahmadu Sule to obtain a template previously used to liquidate another company, with the intention of applying a similar procedure to Singularity.
The investigator further alleged that the conversations included plans to liquidate the company in Nigeria and Mauritius, where it was reportedly under investigation by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
Kayode also claimed that the recordings contained discussions about preventing the EFCC from investigating IHS, a company he identified as being listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The claims formed part of the prosecution’s evidence against El-Rufai. They remain allegations and have not been established by the court.
Tuesday’s proceedings lasted nearly eight hours, beginning at 12.26 p.m. and ending at 8.18 p.m., with approximately two hours devoted to playing the recorded conversations.
Earlier in the proceedings, El-Rufai’s lead counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, objected to Kayode’s testimony, arguing that the witness’s name and a summary of his evidence had not been included in the prosecution’s proof of evidence.
Erokoro maintained that the omission undermined his client’s constitutional right to a fair hearing, insisting that the defence was entitled to know the evidence it would be required to challenge.
However, counsel for the ICPC, Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, argued that Kayode was appearing under subpoena and that his omission from the proof of evidence did not automatically make his testimony inadmissible.
The hearing followed a ruling by the Court of Appeal in Kaduna dismissing El-Rufai’s challenge to the state high court’s refusal to grant him bail.
In its judgment delivered on 9 October, the appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision, ruling that the former governor had failed to establish sufficient grounds for interfering with the refusal of bail.
El-Rufai has been in ICPC custody since 18 February 2026 over allegations of financial misconduct linked to his administration of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023.
