The family of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied claims by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that it seized phone-tapping equipment from the ex-governor.
Recall that the anti-graft agency had earlier claimed that the former Kaduna State Governor, kept suspected wiretapping equipment—allegedly capable of intercepting private conversations and accessing sensitive security documents—at his Abuja residence.
A statement on Monday signed by El-Rufai’s son, Mohammed accused the anti-corruption agency of conducting “media war” and misrepresenting the outcome of a search carried out at the former governor’s property.
The family defended El-Rufai’s decision not to respond to investigators, stressing that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to remain silent.
They rejected claims that his silence amounted to non-cooperation, insisting that no negative inference should be drawn from the exercise of a constitutional right.
The family in the statement noted that El-Rufai had repeatedly challenged authorities to file charges if there was evidence against him.
The family also denied the ICPC’s claim that sophisticated phone-tapping equipment and sensitive security documents were recovered during the search.
The family maintained that only old personal mobile phones, flash drives, and laptops — common personal devices — were seized, and that the alleged equipment was fictitious.
“The ICPC’s press statement presented a list of seized equipment designed to conjure images of espionage and criminality. This list is a work of fiction, for reasons which will soon become known,” the statement said.
“No equipment other than old discarded personal mobile phones, some dating back as much as 20 years, storage devices like flash drives and laptops, which are standard possessions of any 21st-century citizen, were seized from the property. The alleged ‘sophisticated tapping equipment’ and ‘sensitive security documents’ exist only in the imagination of the ICPC and its press team.”
The statement further alleged that the search was based on a forged warrant, fraudulently issued by a magistrate purportedly acting under High Court authority.
The family said their legal team has challenged the warrant in court, arguing that any evidence obtained through an unlawful search is inadmissible.
“The entire foundation of this investigation is rotten. The search that purportedly uncovered these phantom items was conducted under a legally defective warrant. We have credible evidence that the warrant was a forgery, fraudulently procured and presented by a Magistrate who, bizarrely, purported to sit in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. An illegality of this magnitude—a forgery at the very inception of a state-sponsored search—renders everything that follows it inadmissible and void. Our lawyers have challenged this illegitimate warrant in a court of competent jurisdiction. The ICPC is welcome to explain in court how a Magistrate conjured the jurisdiction of a High Court to sign a warrant based on false premises.
“It would not surprise us if the ICPC were to produce something of that nature in furtherance of its descent into infamy. After all, a court of law has already lampooned ICPC in another matter, of procuring fake search warrants,” the statement said.
El-Rufai’s family said it would pursue all available legal remedies to challenge what it described as defamatory statements and executive overreach, expressing confidence in the Nigerian judiciary to uphold their rights.
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