A Kaduna State High Court has fixed Tuesday, April 14, for the hearing of a bail application filed by former state governor, Nasir El-Rufai. El-Rufai was arraigned on Monday on an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office, filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). He was brought to the court premises around 9am, accompanied by operatives of the commission and personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Journalists were, however, barred from entering the courtroom during proceedings. My reflections on President Tinubu’s whistle stop visit to Jos IMF meetings: Edun leads Nigerian delegation, pushes for global support Sources at the court said the initial charges involved both El-Rufai and one Amadu Sule, but the latter was removed from the amended charge. The development was confirmed by defence counsel, Ubong Akpan (SAN), who spoke with journalists after the session.

Akpan said the prosecution amended the charges and dropped Sule, leaving El-Rufai as the sole defendant. He added that the hearing could not proceed because the defence was served with the amended charges in court during the sitting. “The charges are entirely new to us.

They were given to us this morning while we were already in court. That is why the matter could not proceed. “We will analyse the charges and make our position known.

For now, there is nothing we can do until we have fully reviewed them,” he said. The presiding judge, Darius Khobo, adjourned the matter to April 14 for the hearing of El-Rufai’s bail application. Details of the amended charge show that the ICPC accused El-Rufai of multiple infractions during his tenure as governor.

The nine counts include allegations of inducing the Kaduna State Government to release about N11 billion to an unregistered entity for a light rail project that was never executed. The commission also alleged that the former governor approved and received about N289.8 million as severance allowance, far above the legally entitled amount of about N20 million, thereby conferring a corrupt advantage on himself. In another count, El-Rufai was accused of mismanaging over $1.08 million, part of a World Bank loan to the state, in violation of the loan agreement.

The ICPC further alleged that he conspired with an associate, said to be at large, to offer monetary inducement to federal investigators in order to compromise an ongoing probe involving a private firm. Other charges include the alleged unlawful award of a N4.6 billion CCTV contract in Kaduna metropolis in disregard of procurement laws, as well as conferring undue advantage on an associate through the same contract. El-Rufai has denied all the allegations. The case is expected to continue with the hearing of his bail application.