Court reserves judgement on El-Rufai’s bail application

The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has reserved judgement in an appeal filed by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, challenging the refusal of his bail application by the Kaduna State High Court.

The presiding judge, Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi, reserved judgement on Tuesday after hearing arguments from lawyers representing El-Rufai and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.

ICPC lead counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the trial court was right to refuse the former governor bail.

Adedipe said El-Rufai had filed three separate bail applications before the Kaduna State High Court and all were rejected.

According to him, the first application was dismissed, while the second was refused after the former governor failed to establish exceptional circumstances warranting another application.

He said a third application was subsequently filed and also dismissed, but El-Rufai appealed only against the ruling on the second application.

The ICPC lawyer argued that the former governor failed to disclose to the Court of Appeal that the third bail application had also been refused.

He therefore asked the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking merit.

El-Rufai’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro, SAN, however, urged the appellate court to overturn the decision of the lower court and grant his client bail pending the determination of the charges against him.

Erokoro argued that the offences against El-Rufai were bailable and were not capital offences.

He maintained that bail was a constitutional right except in cases involving capital offences and argued that keeping the former governor in custody was affecting his ability to adequately prepare his defence.

The senior lawyer said El-Rufai’s detention had made access to his lawyers and witnesses difficult and could affect confidential communication between him and his legal team.

Erokoro also described El-Rufai as a prominent opposition figure, arguing that the filing of criminal charges against him close to an election was not surprising.

He expressed confidence that the Court of Appeal would take a different position from the High Court and grant the former governor bail.

After hearing submissions from both sides, Justice Otisi reserved judgement.

No date was fixed for the ruling.