Former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a N1 billion lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices andOther Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and others, claiming his rights were violated during a raid on his Abuja home.

The case, FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to cancel a search warrant issued on February 4, 2026, which allowed ICPC agents to search and seize items from his house.

El-Rufai, represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Oluwole Iyamu, argues that the warrant was invalid and wants the court to nullify it and any actions taken based on it.

The raid occurred on February 19, 2026, at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja. El-Rufai has been in ICPC custody since February 18, 2026, although details of the investigation are not public.

His lawyers, including Ubong Akpan, described the raid as unlawful and a violation of his fundamental rights.

In the suit, El-Rufai lists the ICPC, the FCT magistrate who issued the warrant, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General of the Federation as respondents.

He is asking the court to declare that the raid violated his constitutional rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy.

He also wants any evidence seized to be declared inadmissible and for all items taken to be returned with an inventory.

El-Rufai is seeking N1 billion in damages for trespass, unlawful seizure, psychological trauma, humiliation, and reputational harm.

This sum is broken down into N300 million as compensatory damages for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security; N400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies and vindicate his rights.

And the N300 million as aggravated damages for what he described as the malicious, high-handed, and oppressive nature of the respondents’ actions, including the use of a "patently defective warrant procured through misleading representations."

Additionally, El-Rufai is seeking N100 million to cover the cost of filing the suit, including legal fees and associated expenses.

In his grounds of argument, El-Rufai’s legal counsel, Oluwole Iyamu, contended that the search warrant was fundamentally defective.

He argued that it lacked specificity in describing the items to be seized, contained material typographical errors, and was overbroad in its directives.

Iyamu stated that the warrant was "null and void for lack of particularity, material drafting errors, ambiguity in execution parameters, over-breadth, and absence of probable cause, thereby constituting an unlawful and unreasonable search in violation of Section 37 of the Constitution."

Iyamu cited sections 143 to 148 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, emphasizing that these provisions require applications for search warrants to be supported by written information on oath setting out reasonable grounds for suspicion.

He highlighted that the warrant "vaguely referred to ‘the thing aforesaid’ without any particular description," adding that it was not in the prescribed form and contained errors in the address, date, and district designation.

The lawyer further argued that the warrant was indiscriminately addressed to "all officers," which he described as overbroad and unaccountable.

An affidavit deposed to by Mohammed Shaba, identified as a principal secretary to the former governor, corroborated the events, noting that operatives of the ICPC and the police stormed the residence at about 2 pm on February 19, 2026.

Shaba claimed that the warrant did not specify the properties or items being searched for and that the officers failed to submit themselves for search before carrying out the operation.

He alleged that personal items, including documents and electronic devices, were seized during the search, none of which have been returned.

Shaba stated that the respondents "continue to rely on the unlawful evidence," and that the application was brought in good faith to enforce El-Rufai’s constitutional rights.