The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has arraigned former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, at the Federal High Court in Kaduna over an alleged ₦8.68 billion fraud tied to a CCTV surveillance project.El-Rufai appeared in court with his former Senior Special Adviser and Counsellor, Mr. Jimi Adebisi Lawal, and five companies to face charges of corruption, money laundering, and financial misconduct.
The suit, marked FHC/KD/93C/2026, came before Justice Hauwa’u Buhari. Other defendants named in the revised 11-count charge are Singularity Network Security Limited, Solar Life Nigeria Limited, Knowledge Investment Nigeria Limited, Intercellular Nigeria Limited, and Noble Coast Resources Limited.
The Commission also listed Bashir El-Rufai, said to be the former governor’s elder brother, in one count. He is reportedly at large.According to ICPC, the charges relate to the award of a contract for survey planning, final design, procurement, and installation of a Closed-Circuit Television system across Kaduna city.
The agency alleged that El-Rufai, while in office as governor, approved the ₦8,682,574,054.94 contract for Singularity Network Security Limited despite claims the firm lacked the technical capacity and experience needed for the project.ICPC further alleged that the approval breached public procurement rules and was carried out unlawfully.
Investigators said funds from the contract were later moved through multiple companies and individuals over several years.
The Commission stated that more than ₦2 billion suspected to be proceeds of crime flowed through the companies listed in the charge between 2017 and 2022.
It argued that the transactions were structured to hide the source of the funds.One count in the amended charge reads:
“That you, MALLAM NASIR AHMAD EL-RUFAI (M), around December 2015 in Kaduna, while serving as Executive Governor of Kaduna State, aided corruption by approving the award of a contract for survey planning, final design, and installation of CCTV in Kaduna metropolis for a revised sum of ₦8,682,574,054.94 to Messrs.
Singularity Network Security Limited, a company without the required experience and in violation of procurement laws, an act you knew was unlawful, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 21(a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”Both El-Rufai and Lawal pleaded not guilty to all charges. Their lawyers then asked the court to release them on bail pending trial.