Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has denied allegations that it denied former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El‑Rufai access to medical care and food while in its custody, insisting that the anti‑graft agency only enforced its longstanding access control protocol. The controversy erupted on Friday, May 15, 2026, when El‑Rufai’s son, Mohammed Bello, a member of the House of Representatives, issued a statement accusing ICPC officials of violating a court order by blocking the former governor’s personal doctor from seeing him and turning away his wife when she attempted to deliver his evening meal.
In a statement posted on his verified Facebook account, Bello alleged that El‑Rufai’s doctor arrived at the ICPC headquarters around 3 p.m. to discuss the results of recent medical tests but was denied entry. According to Bello, officials insisted that written approval from the ICPC chairman was required, an action he described as a direct violation of a court order granting his father “unrestricted access to his doctors”. He also claimed that his stepmother, Aichatou, was turned away when she arrived around 7 p.m. with dinner, with security personnel informing her that food deliveries were not permitted after 6:30 p.m. “No lawful detention justifies denying medical access or refusing basic family care based on an arbitrary curfew fixed by the ICPC,” Bello said.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, May 18, the ICPC spokesperson, Okor Odey, dismissed the allegations as “false and misleading”. He explained that the Commission’s access control protocol, which permits visitors only between 9:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., has been in place long before the current chairman assumed office and applies equally to all detainees. Odey disclosed that on the Friday in question, one of El‑Rufai’s wives and a housemaid were permitted to bring food to the former governor on three separate occasions between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. These visits are documented in the ICPC’s visitor register, which the agency said is available for independent verification. He also noted that the same wife admitted in a viral video that she arrived at 7:00 p.m., thirty minutes after the official access window had closed, and that she had already delivered both breakfast and lunch earlier that day.
On the issue of medical access, Odey stated that the ICPC did not block the doctor but only requested proper identification and confirmation from El‑Rufai before granting supervised entry, describing this as a standard security procedure. He added that in the week preceding the incident, El‑Rufai had been granted permission to visit both his dentist and eye doctor on two separate occasions, with ICPC officials accompanying him on both visits. He also has regular access to the commission’s in‑house medical personnel and facilities upon request. “The ICPC will not be drawn into dramatised narratives designed to circumvent lawful institutional procedures,” Odey said, adding that the commission would not compromise its security protocols under any circumstances.
The ICPC also dismissed suggestions that El‑Rufai’s detention was politically motivated. Deputy Director John Odey stated that the former governor remains in custody because he has yet to fulfil the bail conditions granted by the court. “The court granted him bail and he is yet to meet his bail conditions. If he meets his bail conditions today, I can assure you that the ICPC will let him go. So we are not keeping him,” Odey said. He added that the corruption charges against El‑Rufai are already before the court, and that the case is strictly judicial, not political.
El‑Rufai has been in ICPC custody since February 19, 2026, over allegations of financial impropriety during his tenure as governor of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023. On April 13, 2026, the ICPC arraigned him before a Kaduna High Court on an amended nine‑count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office. He has also faced separate legal battles, including a phone‑tapping case before the Federal High Court in Abuja, for which he was granted bail on Monday. The ICPC has reiterated that its only interest is the prosecution of the case and that the former governor remains in good health.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condemned the allegations, describing any denial of food or medical care as “deplorable, unjustifiable and unacceptable”. However, the ICPC maintains that its records contradict the family’s claims and that all lawful protocols were followed. As the legal proceedings continue, the public debate over El‑Rufai’s treatment in custody is likely to persist, with his family and the anti‑graft agency locked in a bitter dispute over the facts.
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