N423bn Probe: Court reserves judgement in El-Rufai’s suit against Kaduna Assembly

The Federal High Court in Kaduna State has reserved its judgment in the case filed by Mr. Nasir El-Rufai.

El-Rufai, the former Governor of Kaduna State, is seeking to nullify the report by the State House of Assembly’s Ad-Hoc Committee, which accused him and his administration of involvement in a N423 billion fraud.

In June 2024, El-Rufai filed a fundamental rights lawsuit, arguing that the Assembly’s report is invalid because he was not given a fair hearing during their proceedings.

Through his lawyer, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), El-Rufai is requesting the court to declare the Assembly’s report null and void. The defendants in the case are the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the state’s Attorney General.

During Thursday’s court session, all respondents adopted their respective processes and urged the court to dismiss the suit.

Counsel for the Kaduna State House of Assembly, the first respondent, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), contended that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear El-Rufai’s fundamental rights case or to invalidate the Assembly’s report, given its constitutional mandate.

The Kaduna State Commissioner of Justice, Sule Shuaibu (SAN), also a respondent, filed both preliminary and substantive objections, arguing that the court should dismiss the case on the grounds that it lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter.

He also asked the court to dismiss the substantial suit for lack of cause of action against the Attorney General and for being speculative.

Both respondents further contended that the applicants failed to present the report of the Kaduna State House of Assembly to the Court, despite seeking a declaration that it is unconstitutional, null, and void.

They therefore requested the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety for lacking merit.

The counsel for Nasir El-Rufai, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), was not present in court. After hearing the arguments from the lawyers, the presiding judge, Justice R.M. Aikawa, stated that a date for the judgment would be communicated to the parties involved.