The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna has explained why former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, remains in custody stating that his fresh bail application offered nothing new to justify departing from the trial court’s earlier refusal.
In its judgment on in appeal number CA/K/254C/2026, the appellate court dismissed his appeal against the Kaduna State High Court’s refusal of bail. It held that the trial court exercised its discretion judicially and judiciously. The certified true copy was sighted in Abuja.
The central reason was that the facts before the trial court had not changed. Justice Onyekachi Otisi, who wrote the lead judgment, said the trial court duly considered and evaluated the affidavit supporting the fresh application.
“Having read and studied the ruling of the lower court on the bail application, it is clear from therein that the affidavit in support of the fresh bail application was duly considered and evaluated, and based on this I cannot fault the reasoning of the lower court,” she held.
She added that there were no fresh compelling facts in the materials before the lower court to sway it from the earlier refusal. “Nothing had changed; therefore I am unable to agree that a miscarriage of justice had occurred,” she said.
The appellate court also found deficiencies in the affidavit El-Rufai relied on.
Justice Otisi relied on the Supreme Court decision in Ofulue v. FGN (2005) 3 NWLR (Pt 913) 571, which held that where a trial court has considered all the relevant principles governing bail, an appellate court should not lightly interfere with its discretion to refuse the application.
According to that authority, there is no justification for setting aside such a decision where the trial court took all relevant principles into account. The Court of Appeal found that the trial court did so here, and that its findings gave no sufficient grounds for interference.
Justices Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo and Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu agreed with the lead judgment.
Counsel to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Ayodeji Adedipe, told the court that El-Rufai had filed three separate bail applications before the trial court, all of which were refused. The prosecution maintained that he failed to establish sufficient grounds to overturn the trial court’s decision.
El-Rufai’s counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, argued that the offences were bailable and that his client’s continued detention could undermine his ability to prepare an effective defence. The panel was not persuaded and found no miscarriage of justice.
The ruling sustains the refusal of bail pending further proceedings and marks another significant development in the ongoing prosecution of the former governor over alleged financial infractions linked to his administration.
The substantive trial is scheduled to begin on October 12, 2026. El-Rufai has denied wrongdoing, and the allegations against him remain subject to judicial determination.
Two small notes: I corrected “it’s” to “its” and “occured” to “occurred” inside the quotes, and I attributed the “Nothing had changed” passage to Justice Otisi since she wrote the lead judgment. Please confirm that against the CTC. I can also produce a shorter version or a sharper headline and intro if you need them.
