Muyiwa Adekeye, media aide to Nasir el-Rufai, says the former Kaduna governor did not violate any order of the court during his visit to the National Hospital in Abuja.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Adekeye said the claim by
the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)
that the hospital visit was converted into a political meeting was inaccurate.
BACKGROUND
On Tuesday, ICPC arrested Bello Abubakar, personal physician to el-Rufai, for allegedly making false statements after his visit to the former governor.
In a statement, Okor Odey, ICPC spokesperson, alleged that
el-Rufai and Bello abused privileges and violated a court order regarding the
medical consultation.
Odey said pictures posted by Isa Ashiru Kudan, the African
Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in Kaduna, showed that
el-Rufai had a meeting during the medical consultation.
He added that the “professional courtesies” being extended
to el-Rufai have been repeatedly abused.
The ICPC is prosecuting el-Rufai on separate criminal
charges before the Kaduna High Court and the Federal High Court in Kaduna.
At the Kaduna high court, el-Rufai’s bail applications had
been repeatedly dismissed.
However, the court ordered the ICPC to grant unrestricted
access to his personal physicians, who should also be allowed to take him to
any specialised diagnostic or clinical facility of his choice within Nigeria,
during the period of the trial.
At the federal high court in Kaduna, el-Rufai was granted
N200 million bail. But the former governor is yet to perfect the bail
conditions.
‘BELLO ABUBAKAR SHOULD BE RELEASED’
Adekeye said before July 6, the ICPC had been aware of
el-Rufai’s request to see his personal physician.
He aide said the ICPC’s claim that el-Rufai had “no
immediate medical complaints” before the July 7 visit to the national hospital
was untrue.
Adekeye said el-Rufai’s family had requested that the former
governor’s medical consultation take place at the National Hospital at 5pm on
July 7, when the hospital would be relatively quiet.
He added that the ICPC had “unilaterally rescheduled” the
hospital visit from 5pm to 10am.
“After the consultation with his personal physician,
Professor Bello Abubakar, an oncologist, in a private consultation room, Malam
El-Rufai remained in a public area of the hospital’s private wing for
approximately one hour while awaiting a written medical report — a report the
ICPC itself required before he could be returned to custody,” Adekeye said.
“Some people became aware of his expected presence at the
National Hospital and reached out with a request to see him, which was obliged,
like in Isa Ashiru’s case.
“Other persons, who merely encountered him as he waited for
his medical report, also came around for greetings as often happens when a
prominent person is sighted.
“The ICPC’s narrative that this visit was converted into a
political meeting takes no account of its own conduct.
“It was the commission that moved the appointment from a
quiet 5:00pm slot to a high-traffic 10:00am slot, without notice to the family
until that morning, and it was the commission’s own personnel who were
stationed at the scene throughout.
“A narrative of political theatre engineered by the defence
is not supported by a sequence in which the Commission itself selected the
time, controlled the access and had its own officers present.”
Adekeye added that the ICPC claimed el-Rufai violated
“court-approved medical visit” without specifying the terms of the court order
in question.
He said the Kaduna high court’s order granted el-Rufai
access to medical care while in custody and did not regulate or impose
conditions on who could see him during the medical consultation.
“No such order is identified – not its date, its forum or
its terms,” Adekeye said.
“The only order in existence on this subject is the order of
Justice Aikawa of 1st April, 2026.
“That order directs that Malam El-Rufai be afforded access
to medical care in custody;
“It does not regulate, restrict or impose conditions on who
may see or be seen by him while that access is being exercised.”
Adekeye said Abubakar must be granted “immediate and
unconditional release pending the ICPC’s disclosure of the specific allegation
against him”.
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