El-Rufai's N400bn Fraud Case Ordered for Fresh Trial

The Court of Appeal has ordered a fresh trial for former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai in a fundamental human rights suit after nullifying a previous judgment delivered by the Federal High Court on July 30, 2024. The appeal, marked CA/K/240/2024, was filed against the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the Attorney General of the state, stemming from an investigation by an ad hoc committee that indicted El-Rufai for allegedly misappropriating N400 billion.

The appeal court, led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, found that the trial court had breached El-Rufai's constitutional right to a fair hearing by failing to properly serve him notice of the proceedings. The court emphasized that the lack of credible evidence for service denied El-Rufai the opportunity to participate in the case.

Consequently, the appeal court set aside the lower court's judgment and ordered a fresh hearing, directing that the parties bear their respective costs.