The family of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has said that the claims by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that it seized phone-tapping equipment from the ex-governor were false.
A statement on Monday signed by el-Rufai’s son, Mohammed, accused the anti-corruption graft of conducting “media war” and misrepresenting the outcome of a search carried out at the former governor’s property.
The family defended el-Rufai’s decision not to respond to the investigators, stating that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to remain silent.
They rejected claims that his silence amounted to non-cooperation, insisting that no negative inference should be drawn from the exercise of a constitutional right.
According to the statement, el-Rufai had repeatedly challenged authorities to file charges if evidence existed against him.
The family also denied the ICPC’s claim that sensitive security documents were recovered during the search.
They maintained that only old personal mobile phones, flash drives, and laptops — common personal devices — were seized, describing the alleged equipment as fictitious.
“The ICPC’s press statement presented a list of seized equipment designed to conjure images of espionage and criminality.
“This list is a work of fiction, for reasons which will soon become known.
“No equipment other than old discarded personal mobile phones some dating back as much as 20 years, storage devices like flash drives and laptops, which are standard possessions of any 21st-century citizen, were seized from the property.
“The alleged ‘sophisticated tapping equipment’ and ‘sensitive security documents’ exist only in the fevered imagination of the ICPC and its press team,” the statement disclosed.
The statement further alleged that the search was based on a forged warrant, claiming it was fraudulently issued by a Magistrate purportedly acting with High Court authority.
The family said their legal team has challenged the warrant in court, arguing that any evidence obtained through an unlawful search is inadmissible.
“The entire foundation of this investigation is rotten. The search that purportedly uncovered these phantom items originated from a legally defective warrant.
“We have credible evidence that the warrant was a forgery, fraudulently procured and presented by a Magistrate who was, bizarrely, purporting to sit in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
“An illegality of this magnitude—a forgery at the very inception of a state-sponsored search—renders everything that follows it inadmissible and void.
“Our lawyers have challenged this illegitimate warrant in a court of competent jurisdiction.
“The ICPC is welcome to explain in court how a Magistrate conjured the jurisdiction of a High Court to sign a warrant based on false premises.
“It would not surprise us if the ICPC were to produce something of that nature in furtherance of its descent into infamy.
“After all a court of law has already lampooned ICPC in another matter, of procuring fake search warrants,” the family stated.
The el-Rufai family said it would pursue all available legal remedies to challenge what it described as defamatory statements and executive overreach, expressing confidence in the Nigerian judiciary to uphold their rights.
