The Court of Appeal in Kaduna has reserved judgment in the appeal filed by former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai against the refusal of his bail by the Kaduna State High Court, leaving his release pending while he remains in custody over corruption charges.
A three member panel led by Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi took the decision on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, after hearing both sides. The court did not fix a date for the delivery of its ruling.
El-Rufai is being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on a nine count charge bordering on abuse of office, fraud, intent to commit fraud and conferment of undue advantage. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
At the hearing, the commission’s lead counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, asked the court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the trial court was right to refuse bail. He told the court that El-Rufai had filed three separate bail applications before the high court, all of which were refused.
Adedipe’s central point was procedural. According to him, El-Rufai appealed only the ruling on the second application and did not disclose to the appellate court that a third application had also been dismissed. On that basis he described the appeal as unmeritorious.
For the defence, Paul Erokoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, urged the court to overturn the lower court and grant bail pending trial. He argued that the offences were bailable rather than capital, and that there was no justification for keeping his client in custody.
Erokoro also linked the detention to the preparation of the defence. He said restricted access to lawyers and witnesses could affect confidential communication and prejudice El-Rufai’s right to a fair trial.
The defence raised the political setting as well. Erokoro described El-Rufai as a prominent opposition figure and said the timing of the charges, close to the 2027 general elections, should weigh with the court. The prosecution’s position has been that the matter is before the court and that the former governor should remain in custody in line with the law.
The appeal arises from a ruling delivered on 30 June 2026, when Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court refused El-Rufai’s application on the ground that it lacked merit. In that ruling the judge directed the commission to grant him unrestricted access to his medical team or a medical facility of his choice within Nigeria while in custody, and adjourned the trial for continuation.
The custody itself runs back several months. The commission arrested El-Rufai on 18 February 2026 and, after an initial remand, arraigned him before the Federal High Court in Kaduna on 24 March on a 10 count charge brought alongside a co-defendant.
The state case followed. On 13 April the commission arraigned him separately before the Kaduna State High Court on an amended nine count charge, after the prosecution split his matter from that of a co-defendant. The charges were brought under the ICPC Act, the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, the Kaduna State Penal Code and the state’s public procurement law.
The two tracks have produced different outcomes on bail. In the Federal High Court matter, El-Rufai was granted bail of N200 million with two sureties on 14 April. That order did not secure his release, because the separate state proceedings, in which bail was refused, kept him in detention.
The allegations centre on his tenure as governor between 2015 and 2023. In the federal charge, the commission alleged that he received two payments of about N289.8 million as severance allowance in September 2020 and January 2023, sums it said far exceeded his lawful entitlement of about N20 million, and that he controlled various dollar amounts through a domiciliary account between 2016 and 2023. Those allegations are untested and remain to be proved at trial.
El-Rufai’s prosecution sits within a wider set of legal battles. He is also facing a separate matter connected to a claim about a tapped telephone conversation involving the National Security Adviser, and earlier filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja challenging the conduct of a search at his Abuja residence in February.
His detention has drawn public comment from both supporters and critics, some questioning its continuation and others insisting the courts should be left to decide. El-Rufai, once a central figure in the ruling party, has since aligned with the opposition African Democratic Congress ahead of 2027.
For now the position is settled only in part. The arguments on both sides have been heard and closed, the former governor stays in custody, and the question of whether he will be admitted to bail rests with the appellate panel. No date has been set for that decision, and until it is delivered the state trial continues.