PREMIUM TIMES has obtained a statement from Bello Abubakar, the doctor facing forgery charges. He is accused of providing a medical report that helped secure bail for former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
In his statement, Mr Abubakar said he wrote the report but does not know the person who allegedly used it to support an affidavit for the former governor. Mr Abubakar is a Chief Consultant Clinical/Radiation Oncologist at the National Hospital, Abuja. He gave a voluntary statement to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in the presence of his lawyer, Rabiu Suleiman of Mahmud SAN and Co.
“I cannot recall anybody with the name Mohammed Bala Aliyu, and I have never deposed or given him any order or authorised him to depose an affidavit,” he said.
The ICPC charged Mr Abubakar with issuing a false medical report to mislead a public officer and support Mr El-Rufai’s bail application. This case is marked KDH/KAD/ICPC/02/2026 and is pending before the Kaduna State High Court.
According to the charge sheet, Mr Abubakar wrote the report titled “Medical Report and Expert Opinion for Urgent Medical Intervention,” dated 10 June 2026. He knew the contents were false and presented it to a Commissioner for Oaths in Kaduna State before filing it in court.
A third count accuses him of working with one Aliyu Bala to create the report to help Mr Bala support the bail application. This is against Section 79 of the Penal Code. Mr Abubakar denied knowing Mr Bala in his statement. “I have no idea who Mohammed Bala Aliyu is and never had any dealing or contact with the same person. Never,” he said.
Doctor’s account of El-Rufai consultations
In his statement, Mr Abubakar explained his relationship with Mr El-Rufai. He first met the former governor through his wife, whose first child he delivered. Later, Mr El-Rufai became his patient.
He said Mr El-Rufai was not a registered patient at his private clinic, the Belam Cancer Centre in Jabi, Abuja. Instead, he was registered at the National Hospital around 2005, where Mr Abubakar has worked since its opening in September 1999.
Mr Abubakar consulted with Mr El-Rufai at the National Hospital not more than four times between 2017 and 2025. None of these consultations were documented because they did not require it. In 2025, he said their contact was limited to phone calls while Mr El-Rufai was abroad.
Mr Abubakar said he consulted with Mr El-Rufai three times between June and July 2026 while the ex-governor was in ICPC detention. This was after the family invited him. Two consultations took place at the ICPC with the commission’s clinic staff present, and his entry was documented. The third was at the National Hospital.
In a consultation on 9 July, he said he attended with his senior registrar, as is standard practice. The hospital’s Chief Medical Director and Director of Clinical Services later joined the session. A total of five clinical staff and Mr El-Rufai’s two wives were present, with no other persons in the room.
Mr Abubakar said photographs taken while he handed a report to Mr El-Rufai’s wives, in the presence of ICPC operatives, were taken in the waiting area, not in the consultation room. He was accidentally captured in one of them before returning to the Oncology department to see a patient.
On report procedure and diagnosis
Mr Abubakar explained how medical reports are issued at the National Hospital. A patient’s request goes to the consultant, who can write the report. Once finished, the report is stamped in the office of the Director of Clinical Services before being given to the patient.
He said it is not his job to check if such reports are registered. Asked about Mr El-Rufai’s histological diagnosis, Mr Abubakar declined to answer. He said the former governor had not allowed him to disclose it, and doing so would be wrong.
The hospital denies authorising the report. Court filings show the National Hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Raji Mahmud, will testify that Mr Abubakar issued the report in Mr El-Rufai’s favour without doing the needed medical examination. He handed it to the family to support the bail application.
The CMD is also expected to tell the court that the hospital responded to ICPC letters, stating it did not authorise the report linked to Mr Abubakar. Investigations found the document was false and did not follow the proper process.
ICPC petitions medical council
The ICPC has also petitioned the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN). They want professional action against Mr Abubakar. In a letter to the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Investigation Panel, the ICPC chairman requested a formal complaint against the doctor, citing an affidavit dated 7 July 2026 before the High Court of Nasarawa State.
The petition, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, asked the panel to conduct “a thorough and swift investigation” into the allegations. An acknowledgement copy shows the MDCN received the complaint on 8 July.
Mr El-Rufai is facing multiple corruption cases from the ICPC. These include an alleged N8.68 billion CCTV contract fraud before the Federal High Court in Kaduna and a different case before the Kaduna State High Court for alleged abuse of office and procurement violations.
The former governor has pleaded not guilty in all the cases. He says the federal and Kaduna governments are using these prosecutions to keep him in detention.
PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the ICPC arrested Mr Abubakar over the alleged false statement.
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