Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied allegations of abuse of a court-approved medical visit while in custody by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), accusing the anti-graft agency of misrepresenting the facts and the law in relation to the incident.
The former governor also called for the immediate release of his personal physician, Professor Bello Abubakar and urged 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 on Wednesday in response to the ICPC’s July 7 statement titled, “El-Rufai and Medical Doctor Abuse Privilege, Violate Court Order.
Adekeye said the commission’s account was not accurate, as El-Rufai’s inability to appear in court on July 6 was as a result of an unresolved medical condition that had been brought to the attention of the ICPC before the scheduled court proceedings.
The statement said that the personal physician to El-Rufai had first attempted to examine the former governor at the ICPC facility after holding discussions with the commission’s doctor.
It alleged that Abubakar was denied access to his patient despite waiting for over two hours.
The statement said El-Rufai’s family then wrote to the ICPC requesting that he be taken to the National Hospital, Abuja, for consultation with his physician on July 7.
It insisted the request was made before the family was told about El-Rufai’s scheduled court appearance on July 6.
“It was against this background – an unmet medical need, a recorded denial of access to his physician a week earlier and the continued ill health of Malam El-Rufai – that the planned trip to Kaduna on 6th July became untenable. He did not travel that day for that reason,” said the statement.
El-Rufai’s camp also denied the ICPC’s claim that the former governor had no immediate medical complaints and only sought access to his doctor after a request by his wife.
Adekeye dismissed the commission’s account as false, denying that the medical consultation was invented to keep 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 concocted to avoid court, is therefore untrue,” he said.
The statement said that El-Rufai’s medical condition was not resolved before the planned trip to Kaduna for the court case.
Adekeye also challenged the ICPC’s allegation that El-Rufai violated a court order in visiting the hospital.
The order that applied was in the words of Justice R.M. Aikawa on April 1, 2026, in Charge No. FHC/KD/73C/2026.
He said the order provided for the former governor to get medical care while in custody and that it did not restrict who could see him during a medical appointment.
The court order, he said, “does not regulate, restrict or impose conditions upon who may see or be seen by him while that access is being exercised.
El-Rufai’s group insisted that nothing was breached in the order relating to the hospital visit.
The former governor’s media team also challenged the commission’s description of the hospital visit as a political gathering.
Adekeye said the ICPC had changed the time of the medical appointment from 5pm to 10am, when the hospital was busier and did not tell 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.
The former governor’s camp said the events that took place did not align with the commission’s claim that the medical visit was used to organise a political meeting.
The arrest of El-Rufai’s personal physician, Abubakar, was also condemned by Adekeye who called on the ICPC to make public the alleged false statement for which the medical practitioner was arrested.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of professor Abubakar pending the ICPC’s disclosure of the specific allegation against him,” the statement read.
The El-Rufai camp said medical treatment was a legal right, not a privilege.
In support of its position, the statement cited the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, otherwise known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, and the subsisting court order.
It warned that any attempt by the ICPC to deny El-Rufai access to medical care, his family or legal representatives could be considered contempt of court.
“The chronology does not support the conclusion that the medical appointment was used to stage a political meeting,” the statement read.