Hon. Mohammed Bello El-Rufai has faulted the actions of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) following a raid on the Abuja residence of his father, former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
In a statement issued on Monday, Bello described the anti-graft agency’s conduct as troubling, alleging procedural irregularities and accusing it of attempting to discredit his father amid ongoing investigations.
El-Rufai has remained in ICPC custody after he was granted bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on February 18, 2026, following questioning over alleged financial misconduct during his tenure as governor of Kaduna State.
Addressing reports about items allegedly recovered during the search of the family home in Abuja, Bello dismissed the commission’s claims and maintained that only personal effects were taken.
According to him, when the ICPC carried out the operation, only “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.”
He added that the agency’s public statement misrepresented the situation.
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“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.
“a) Endorsement: This list has not been endorsed by Mallam el-Rufai or his legal representatives. b) Reality: WE WERE PRESENT WHEN THESE ITEMS WERE SEIZED. 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.”
Bello further alleged that the legal basis for the search was fundamentally flawed.
“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.”
He also accused the agency of misconduct and vowed to seek redress through the courts.
“The ICPC’s statement is a textbook example of projection, the guilty person ascribing his crimes to his victim. It is a document riddled with the very offenses it is meant to combat. We see before us a litany of forgery, uttering of false documents, and the peddling of falsehood that is nothing short of criminal. This level of unprofessional conduct, abuse of office, and sheer chicanery is the hallmark of an organisation that has been completely captured and weaponized. It is an organisation so bereft of any redeeming feature of credibility that it must now manufacture evidence to justify its existence.
“We will not be tried in the court of public opinion by a discredited agency acting on behalf of political masters. We have instructed our legal team to pursue all available legal remedies to challenge the illegal search, the forged warrant, and the defamatory statements made by the ICPC. We have absolute faith that the Nigerian judiciary will see through this shameful charade and uphold the rights of our family against this executive overreach.
“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.”
