Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Monday appeared before the Kaduna State High Court for the hearing of his bail application, but proceedings were stalled after prosecutors introduced fresh charges moments before the session.
El-Rufai is facing a nine-count amended charge filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission over alleged fraud and abuse of office during his tenure.
However, journalists were barred from accessing the courtroom as the matter came up.
Court sources disclosed that the amended charge excluded one Amadu Sule, who was initially listed as a co-defendant, leaving El-Rufai as the sole accused.
Speaking after the session, defence counsel, Ubong Akpan, confirmed that the prosecution effected last-minute changes to the charge, a development that halted proceedings.
According to him, the defence team was only served with the revised charges in court, leaving no room to respond immediately.
“The charges are entirely new to us. They were handed to us this morning while we were already in court.
That is why the matter could not proceed,” he said, adding that the team would study the allegations before taking further steps.
The trial judge, Darius Khobo, subsequently adjourned the case to April 14 for the hearing of the bail application.
Details of the amended charge show that the anti-graft agency accused El-Rufai of multiple infractions, including allegedly inducing the Kaduna State Government to release about N11bn to an unregistered entity for a light rail project that was never executed.
The commission also alleged that the former governor approved and collected about N289.8m as severance allowance, far exceeding the legally permissible amount of roughly N20m.
In another count, he was accused of mismanaging over $1.08m, said to be part of a World Bank facility to the state, in breach of the loan agreement.
The ICPC further alleged that El-Rufai conspired with an associate, said to be at large, to offer inducements to federal investigators to compromise an ongoing probe involving a private firm.
Other allegations include the purported irregular award of a N4.6bn CCTV contract in Kaduna metropolis in violation of procurement laws, as well as conferring undue advantage on an associate through the deal.
El-Rufai has denied all allegations.
The case is expected to resume with the hearing of his bail application, while the former governor is also billed to face separate charges at the Federal High Court instituted by the ICPC.