On Tuesday, Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, went to the Kaduna State High Court to hear his bail application. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) charged him with nine counts.
There are reports that El-Rufai is being accused of fraud and abuse of office.
The proceedings took place behind closed doors because reporters were not allowed in the courtroom during the session.
Sources at the court told Daily Trust that the ICPC’s original charges included both El-Rufai and a man named Amadu Sule.
But the prosecution changed the charges, and Sule’s name was taken off the list.
Ubong Akpan (SAN), the former governor’s lawyer, talked to reporters after the meeting and confirmed the news.
Akpan said that the prosecution changed the charges and dropped Sule as a defendant, so El-Rufai is now the only one on trial.
He went on to say that the hearing couldn’t go on because the defense team was given the new charges in court during the sitting.
“The charges are completely new to us,” Akpan said. We got them this morning while we were already in court. That’s why the case couldn’t move forward.
“We will look at the charges and let you know what we think.” We can’t do anything right now until we have looked over everything.
Justice Darius Khobo, who was in charge of the case, then put it off until April 14 so that El-Rufai’s bail application could be heard.
The amended charges show that the ICPC accused the former governor of breaking the law in a number of ways while he was in office.
One of the charges says that El-Rufai got the Kaduna State Government to give about ₦11 billion to a group that wasn’t registered for a light rail project that never happened.
The commission also said that he approved and received about ₦289.8m as a severance payment, which is much more than the ₦20m he was legally entitled to. This gave him an unfair advantage.
The ICPC also said that he broke the loan agreement by mismanaging more than $1.08 million from a World Bank loan to Kaduna State.
The anti-corruption agency also said that El-Rufai worked with an associate, who is said to be on the run, to offer money to federal investigators in an attempt to interfere with an investigation involving a private company.
Other claims include giving a ₦4.6bn CCTV contract in Kaduna city illegally, which goes against procurement laws, and giving an associate an unfair advantage through the contract.
The ICPC has also filed separate charges against the former governor, and he is expected to go to the Federal High Court in Kaduna for those charges.
