The trial of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over alleged corruption charges suffered another delay on Wednesday after his lead counsel, Paul Erokoro (SAN), disowned three applications seeking the recusal of the trial judge and requested permission to file a fresh motion.
The development occurred during proceedings before the Kaduna State High Court, where the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is prosecuting El-Rufai over allegations of abuse of office, diversion of public funds and other corruption-related offences allegedly committed while he was governor.
At the commencement of proceedings, the ICPC’s lead prosecuting counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), informed the court that although the matter had been scheduled for the hearing of a recusal application filed by the defence on July 6, the defence subsequently filed three separate applications seeking the judge’s recusal.
Adedipe told the court that one of the applications was served on the prosecution shortly before proceedings began on Wednesday.
However, Erokoro told the court that he could neither identify with nor adopt the three applications filed by junior counsel, Ubong Akpan, describing them as containing “combative language” and issues unrelated to the case.
He sought the court’s leave to file a fresh application and undertook to withdraw the earlier motions. The prosecution did not oppose the request, saying it was in the interest of fair hearing.
Following the agreement of both parties, the court adjourned the matter until July 22, 2026, for the hearing of the fresh application seeking the trial judge’s recusal.
El-Rufai is facing prosecution by the ICPC over allegations of abuse of office, diversion of public funds and other corruption-related offences. The former governor has denied any wrongdoing.
