By Idriss LAWAL
A Kaduna State High Court has declared that former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, forged his medical report, and the reason it is dismissing a fresh bail application filed by him.
Justice Darius Khobo, in a considered ruling delivered on June 29, refused the former governor’s third bail application, which was predicated on medical grounds in the ongoing criminal proceedings instituted against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
He said the medical report he relied upon as lacking credibility after the purported issuing hospital disowned it. The court held that the evidential basis of the application collapsed after the medical report tendered by El-Rufai was formally repudiated by the management of the National Hospital, Abuja.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the ICPC, the report, attached to the application as Exhibit “A”, purportedly stated that the former governor had been diagnosed with advanced metastatic prostate cancer requiring specialised treatment allegedly unavailable anywhere in Nigeria.
However, opposing the application, the ICPC tendered documentary evidence from the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Abuja, Prof Muhammad Raji Mahmud, denying that the hospital issued the report.
According to the commission, the hospital conducted a comprehensive search of its electronic medical records and patient indexes and found no hospital number, patient file, billing record, consultation history, or any evidence showing that El-Rufai had ever been treated at the facility.
The hospital further stated that the report was issued without the knowledge or authorisation of its management, thereby casting serious doubt on its authenticity.
Justice Khobo consequently held that a document formally disowned by the institution on whose letterhead it was purportedly issued could not form the basis for granting the exceptional relief of bail on medical grounds.
