The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, challenging the refusal of his bail application by the Kaduna State High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A three-member panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi reserved judgment on Tuesday after hearing arguments from lawyers representing El-Rufai and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court did not announce a date for the delivery of its judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Counsel to the ICPC, Ayodeji Adedipe, urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the Kaduna State High Court was right to deny El-Rufai bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adedipe said El-Rufai had filed three separate bail applications before the trial court, all of which were rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He argued that the former governor had failed to disclose to the Court of Appeal that his third bail application had also been dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ICPC counsel therefore described the appeal as unmeritorious and urged the court to uphold the decision of the lower court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, El-Rufai\u2019s counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the lower court\u2019s decision and grant his client bail pending the determination of the charges against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erokoro argued that the offences for which El-Rufai is being prosecuted are bailable and do not attract the death penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBail is a constitutional right except in capital offences. There is no justification for keeping the applicant in custody when the offences for which he is standing trial are bailable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defence counsel further argued that continued detention was affecting El-Rufai\u2019s ability to prepare his defence by restricting his access to lawyers and witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said effective communication between a defendant and his legal team was essential to ensuring a fair trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erokoro also urged the court to consider the political context surrounding the case, arguing that the charges against El-Rufai were filed close to the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is not surprising that criminal charges are being brought against a prominent opposition figure close to an election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El-Rufai, who served as Kaduna State governor from 2015 to 2023, is being prosecuted by the ICPC over alleged financial offences linked to his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former governor has denied wrongdoing and challenged the circumstances surrounding his continued detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ICPC has also charged some former officials of the Kaduna State Government over alleged financial infractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case has attracted political reactions, with supporters and opposition figures calling for El-Rufai\u2019s release, while the prosecution has maintained that the matter should be determined through the judicial process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After hearing submissions from both sides, the appellate panel reserved judgment without fixing a date for its delivery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, challenging the refusal of his bail application by the Kaduna State High Court. A three-member panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi reserved judgment on Tuesday after hearing arguments from lawyers representing El-Rufai and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[2824,2863,2862,2864,2861,2860,2859,2175],"class_list":["post-3782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2027-elections","tag-bail-appeal","tag-court-of-appeal","tag-criminal-charges","tag-icpc","tag-kaduna-state","tag-nasir-el-rufai","tag-nigeria-judiciary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t