Court throws out El-Rufai's N120 million lawsuit against security agencies

The FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday, tossed out former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s N120 million rights suit. He filed the case after security agents tried to arrest him at the Abuja airport earlier this year.

Mr El-Rufai has been in detention since February. He took action against the State Security Service (SSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

He wanted N120 million in damages from these agencies. He claimed they violated his rights by taking his passport and trying to arrest him when he arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in February.

Judge Sylvanus Oriji stated that the case was not valid. He ordered Mr El-Rufai to pay N200,000 in costs to each of the four agencies involved. This means the total fine is N800,000.

The judge explained that there was nothing wrong with the SSS attempting to arrest him at the airport. He said the SSS, a secret police group, acted within its rights "to place persons of interest on its watchlist and arrest them where necessary."

He also mentioned that the SSS’s action of taking Mr El-Rufai’s passport was legal and within what the agency can do. The judge rejected Mr El-Rufai’s claim that the attempted arrest was illegal because there was no warrant.

The judge added that the letters of invitation from the EFCC and ICPC did not breach Mr El-Rufai’s human rights. He said these invitations were part of the agencies' duties to get information from Mr El-Rufai regarding his ongoing questioning.

The judge ruled that Mr El-Rufai cannot use the court to stop the agencies from doing their jobs. He dismissed the lawsuit because it lacked merit.