The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has reserved judgement in an appeal filed by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, challenging the refusal of his bail application by the Kaduna State High Court.
The presiding judge, Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi, reserved judgement after hearing arguments from counsel to El-Rufai and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Speaking after the proceedings, ICPC lead counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the High Court was right to refuse El-Rufai’s bail application.
Adedipe told the court that El-Rufai had filed three separate bail applications before the trial court, all of which were rejected.
According to him, the first application was dismissed, while the second was rejected after El-Rufai failed to establish exceptional circumstances to warrant another bail application.
He said a third application was subsequently filed and also dismissed, but El-Rufai appealed only against the ruling on the second application.
The ICPC counsel argued that the former governor failed to disclose to the Court of Appeal that the third application had also been rejected, and urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking merit.
However, El-Rufai’s counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, urged the appellate court to overturn the lower court’s decision and grant his client bail pending the determination of the charges against him.
Erokoro argued that the offences against El-Rufai were bailable and not capital offences. He maintained that continued detention was making it difficult for his client to adequately prepare his defence, particularly by limiting access to his lawyers and witnesses.
The senior lawyer also argued that the restrictions could affect confidential communication between El-Rufai and his legal team.
Erokoro further described El-Rufai as a prominent opposition figure and argued that the timing of the criminal charges, close to an election, should be considered.