Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s N1 billion fundamental rights lawsuit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission suffered a setback on Tuesday when proceedings could not commence due to the inability of his lawyers to serve the respondents.

The matter, which was before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, could not proceed shortly after it was called. Upon resumed hearing, only Ubong Akpan, the counsel who appeared for the ex-governor, was in court, as there was no representation for the respondents.

Akpan informed the court that though the matter was scheduled for mention, they had been unable to serve the respondents.

El-Rufai is demanding N1 billion in damages from the ICPC, the Chief Magistrate of the Magistrate’s Court of the FCT, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General of the Federation in a case challenging the legality of a February 19 search of his Abuja residence.

El-Rufai, through his team of lawyers led by Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, is praying the court to declare that the search warrant issued on February 4 by the Chief Magistrate, Magistrate’s Court of the FCT (2nd respondent), authorizing the search and seizure at his residence was invalid, null and void.

He is asking the court to declare that the search warrant is “null and void for lack of particularity, material drafting errors, ambiguity in execution parameters, overbreadth, and absence of probable cause thereby constituting an unlawful and unreasonable search in violation of Section 37 of the Constitution”.

The former governor, in the originating motion on notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, dated and filed Feb. 20 by Iyamu, sought seven reliefs.

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He prayed the court to declare that the invasion and search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on Feb. 19 at about 2pm by the ICPC and I-G, amounts to a gross violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution.

El-Rufai is seeking several orders including an injunction restraining the respondents from relying on any evidence seized during the search, an order directing the ICPC and Inspector-General to return all seized items with a detailed inventory, and N1 billion in damages.

El-Rufai did the breakdown of the N1 billion in damages to include “N300 million as compensatory damages for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security; N400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies and vindicate the applicant’s rights. N300 million as aggravated damages for the malicious, high-handed and oppressive nature of the respondents’ actions”.

He equally sought N100 million as cost of filing the suit, including legal fees and associated expenses.

His lawyer argued that the search warrant was fundamentally defective, lacking specificity in the description of items to be seized, containing material typographical errors, ambiguous execution terms, overbroad directives, and no verifiable probable cause in contravention of Sections 143-148 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015; Section 36 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) Act, 2000, and constitutional protections against arbitrary intrusions.

The case is part of El-Rufai’s broader legal battle following his arrest and detention by the ICPC on allegations related to phone-tapping, email hacking, and other corruption-related investigations stemming from his tenure as Kaduna State governor.