By Yakub Mailafia
KADUNA — The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has dismissed an appeal filed by former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, challenging the refusal of the Kaduna State High Court to grant him bail.
In its judgment delivered on Friday in Appeal Number CA/K/254C/2026, the Appellate Court affirmed the ruling of the lower court, holding that the trial judge exercised his discretion judicially and judiciously, with no miscarriage of justice.
The three-man panel of the Appellate Court, led by Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi, held that El-Rufai’s appeal lacked merit and that the High Court was right to have denied him bail in the criminal charges brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.
El-Rufai is standing trial before Justice D. H. Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court on a nine-count charge bordering on alleged conferment of benefits under false pretences, dishonest disposal of loan funds, and other corruption-related offences linked to the Kaduna Light Rail contract, severance allowances, World Bank loan funds and the award of CCTV contracts during his tenure. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The former governor had approached the High Court three times seeking bail, particularly on medical grounds, but all three applications were refused. The third application, which was dismissed on June 29, 2026, was anchored on a medical report purportedly issued by the National Hospital, Abuja, claiming that El-Rufai was suffering from advanced metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer requiring Lutetium-177 PSMA therapy allegedly unavailable in Nigeria.
Justice Khobo, in dismissing that application, held that the report could not be relied upon after the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud, disowned the document, stating that an electronic search of the hospital’s records showed no hospital number, patient file, billing record or consultation history for El-Rufai, and that the report was not authorised by the hospital management.
At the hearing of the appeal, ICPC lead counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the lower court acted correctly.
Adedipe told the court that El-Rufai had filed three bail applications before the High Court and all were refused, noting that the first was dismissed outright, the second was refused for failure to demonstrate exceptional circumstances, and the third was dismissed over the disputed medical report.
He further argued that El-Rufai’s legal team failed to disclose to the Appellate Court that the third application had also been turned down, and that he chose to appeal only the decision on the second application, describing the appeal as unmeritorious.
Counsel to the former governor, Paul Erokoro, SAN, had urged the court to overturn the lower court’s decision, arguing that the offences were bailable and that his client’s continued detention was hampering his ability to prepare his defence.
Delivering judgment, the Court of Appeal resolved the issues in favour of the ICPC, affirming that the trial judge’s discretion was properly exercised.
The court noted that bail is at the discretion of the court, and in this instance, the lower court gave cogent reasons for its refusal, including the need to ensure the defendant’s availability for trial and the lack of credible exceptional circumstances.
The ruling means El-Rufai will remain in custody pending the determination of the substantive corruption charges against him.
The court however reiterated the earlier order of the High Court directing the ICPC to grant the former governor unrestricted access to his personal physicians and to escort him to any specialised diagnostic or medical facility of his choice within Nigeria whenever the need arises.