Court Orders El-Rufai to Pay ₦900 Million for Unlawful Detention of Adara Elders

A Federal High Court in Kaduna has awarded ₦900 million in damages against former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and five others for the illegal detention of Southern Kaduna Adara elders in 2019, ruling that El-Rufai personally orchestrated their arbitrary arrest.

Justice Hauwa’u Buhari delivered the judgment on Tuesday in a suit filed by Awemi Dio Maisamari and eight other Adara elders, who were detained following the killing of their monarch, Dr. Raphael Maiwada Galadima.

“This judgment marks a watershed against abuse of power and accountability for abuse, whether the occupiers of the office are temporarily shielded by immunity or not. Even when people in authority enjoy immunity, it does not warrant executive lawlessness,”

— Gloria Mabeiam Ballason, counsel to the applicants stated.

In addition to the ₦900 million awarded against El-Rufai and other state actors, the court also ordered the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector General of Police, and the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police to pay ₦10 million in general damages and another ₦10 million in special damages.

The elders, including Maisamari, a former commissioner Bawa Magaji, and a retired police commissioner, were arrested in 2019 after El-Rufai labeled them security threats in Kajuru. They were later released when the Attorney General’s office found no evidence to support the allegations.

Ballason hailed the ruling as a landmark for accountability and a clear message that abuse of executive power, even under the cover of immunity, would not go unpunished.