Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied allegations by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that he abused a court-approved medical visit while in custody, accusing the anti-graft agency of misrepresenting the facts and the law surrounding the incident.
The former governor also demanded the immediate release of his personal physician, Professor Bello Abubakar, and called on the ICPC to withdraw its allegation that he violated a court order.
El-Rufai’s media adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, made the demands in a statement issued on Wednesday in response to the ICPC’s July 7 statement titled, “El-Rufai and Medical Doctor Abuse Privilege, Violate Court Order.”
Adekeye described the commission’s account as inaccurate, insisting that El-Rufai’s inability to appear in court on July 6 was caused by an unresolved medical condition that had been brought to the attention of the ICPC before the scheduled court proceedings.
According to the statement, El-Rufai’s personal physician had earlier attempted to examine the former governor at the ICPC facility after consulting with the commission’s doctor.
It alleged that Abubakar was prevented from seeing his patient despite waiting for more than two hours.
The statement said El-Rufai’s family subsequently wrote to the ICPC requesting that he be taken to the National Hospital, Abuja, for consultation with his physician on July 7.
It maintained that the request was made before the family was notified of El-Rufai’s scheduled court appearance on July 6.
“It was against this background—an unresolved medical need, a documented denial of access to his physician the week before, and Malam El-Rufai’s continuing ill health—that the scheduled trip to Kaduna on 6th July became untenable. He did not travel that day for that reason,” the statement said.
El-Rufai’s camp also rejected the ICPC’s claim that the former governor had no immediate medical complaints and only sought access to his doctor following a request by his wife.
Adekeye described the commission’s account as false and denied that the medical consultation was devised to prevent El-Rufai from appearing in court.
“The suggestion that he had ‘no immediate medical complaints’ on 6th July, or that the request to see his doctor was devised to avoid court, is accordingly untrue,” he said.
The statement maintained that El-Rufai’s medical condition had remained unresolved before the planned journey to Kaduna for the court proceedings.
Adekeye also faulted the ICPC’s allegation that El-Rufai violated a court order during his visit to the hospital.
According to him, the applicable order was issued on April 1, 2026, by Justice R.M. Aikawa in Charge No. FHC/KD/73C/2026.
He argued that the order guaranteed the former governor access to medical care while in custody and did not impose restrictions on persons who could see him during a medical visit.
The court order, he said, “does not regulate, restrict, or impose conditions on who may see or be seen by him while that access is being exercised.”
El-Rufai’s camp maintained that no aspect of the order was breached during the hospital visit.
The former governor’s media team also disputed the commission’s description of the hospital visit as a political gathering.
Adekeye alleged that the ICPC changed the medical appointment from 5pm to 10am, a period when the hospital was busier, and did not inform El-Rufai’s family of the change until the morning of the visit.
“It was the Commission that moved the appointment from a quiet 5:00pm slot to a high-traffic 10:00am slot… and it was the Commission’s own personnel who were stationed at the scene throughout,” the statement said.
According to the former governor’s camp, the sequence of events did not support the commission’s suggestion that the medical visit was used to organise a political meeting.
Adekeye also condemned the arrest of El-Rufai’s personal physician, Abubakar, demanding that the ICPC publicly disclose the alleged false statement for which the medical practitioner was arrested.
“We call for Professor Abubakar’s immediate and unconditional release pending the ICPC’s disclosure of the specific allegation against him,” the statement read.
El-Rufai’s camp maintained that access to medical treatment was a legal right rather than a privilege.
