An Abuja Magistrate’s Court is to rule today on an application by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), seeking an additional 14 days to keep former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el Rufai, in custody.

The presiding magistrate, Okechukwu Akweke, had last week adjourned proceedings to allow the court to consider the anti-graft agency’s request for an extension of the remand order.

el-Rufai has been in custody since February 18, 2026, over allegations bordering on money laundering and unlawful interception of communications belonging to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

The commission had earlier secured a 14-day remand order from a Magistrate Court in Bwari, Abuja, on February 19, 2026, to detain the former governor while investigations continued. The order reportedly expired on March 5.

Following the expiration of the remand order, el-Rufai’s lawyers, family members and supporters criticised his continued detention, arguing that it had become unlawful.

They maintained that once the order lapsed, the commission ought to have either released him or arraigned him before a competent court.

According to them, holding the former governor without a valid court order violates his constitutional rights.

In response, el-Rufai filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit before the Federal Capital Territory High Court, challenging what he described as his prolonged and unlawful detention.

Joined as defendants in the suit are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Department of State Services, the ICPC, and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The ex-governor is asking the court to declare his continued detention illegal and order his immediate release.

However, the ICPC has rejected claims that it breached el-Rufai’s fundamental rights.

The commission insisted that it obtained a valid remand order from the court.

Meanwhile, former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has faulted el-Rufai’s human rights records when he held office as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said: “el-Rufai did not just attempt to close down AIT and seize the land on which it was built, but he also illegally confiscated large swathes of surrounding land which AIT had paid for and had valid certificates of occupancy, and he knocked down some of their buildings without due process and against court orders.”

In a post on his Facebook page, Fani-Kayode said there were other aspects of human rights violations which el-Rufai allegedly committed.