By Our Correspondent

The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai in the sum of N100 million following his arraignment on charges bordering on alleged breach of national security.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, had while delivering the ruling, on Monday,imposed a series of strict conditions for the release of the former governor, including monthly reporting to the headquarters of the Department of State Services and the surrender of all his international passports.

The court ruled that El-Rufai must provide one surety who must reside in either Maitama or Asokoro in Abuja and own a landed property within the Federal Capital Territory.

The surety is required to deposit the original Certificate of Occupancy of the property with the court registry.

Justice Abdulmalik further directed that the surety must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17 and must provide evidence of salary payments for at least three months.

The salary records must also be authenticated by a bank manager within the court’s jurisdiction.

In addition, the surety was ordered to depose to an affidavit of means, execute a bail bond and submit a recent passport photograph to the court registry.

The court also ordered El-Rufai to submit all valid international passports and directed that he must report to the DSS headquarters every last Friday of the month by 10 a.m. to sign an attendance register pending the determination of the case.

Justice Abdulmalik warned that any breach of the bail terms would lead to an automatic revocation of the bail.

The judge further ordered the former governor to submit a letter of attestation from the Chairman of the Kaduna Traditional Council, alongside a verification letter from the surety’s department and a tax clearance certificate covering the last six months.

The ruling followed the arraignment of El-Rufai by the DSS on an amended five-count charge bordering on alleged breach of national security.

The DSS had earlier arraigned the former governor before the same court on April 23, where he pleaded not guilty to the initial charges.

At Monday’s proceedings, counsel to the DSS, Oluwole Aladedoye, informed the court that the prosecution had filed a further amended five-count charge and sought leave to substitute the earlier three-count charge.

One of the amended charges accused El-Rufai of unlawfully intercepting the communications of Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser.

According to the prosecution, the alleged offence stemmed from statements allegedly made by the former governor during an appearance on an Arise Television programme on February 13, 2026.

The prosecution argued that the alleged act contravened Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.

Following the amendment, the court struck out the earlier three-count charge and read the amended charges to El-Rufai, who again pleaded not guilty to all counts.

During the proceedings, the defence drew the attention of the court to a pending bail application filed on February 17, noting that a further affidavit initially declared missing from the court file was later found during proceedings.

The DSS, however, told the court that it was not opposing the bail application.

The defence team also filed an application seeking to quash the amended charges, arguing that the allegations lacked merit, while the prosecution urged the court to dismiss the application.

After listening to arguments from both parties, Abdulmalik adjourned the matter for further hearing while granting El-Rufai bail under the stringent conditions.

Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele on Sunday condemned in absolute terms the abduction of 87 students and teachers in Borno and Oyo States within 24 hours despite $30 million globally raised in 2014 to secure public and private schools across Nigeria.
 
Bamidele, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, added that the recent abduction accentuated the need to expedite the establishment of state police currently under consideration at the National Assembly.
 
He made the remarks in a statement by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs on Sunday; calling for concerted and strategic measures to make schools safe nationwide and tame the rising number of out-of-school children crisis.
 
Suspected gunmen had abducted 45 students and teachers from Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, Community Grammar School and L.A Primary School in Esiele, in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday.
 
Similarly, within the same period, Boko Haram terrorists attacked Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira/Uba Local Government Area, Borno State, an invasion that culminated in the abduction of 42 students.
 
In his statements on Sunday, Bamidele condemned the abduction, describing it as an attack on the future of Nigeria, thereby promising to speed up the creation of state police in order to complement the country’s current national security architecture.
 
According to him, the 10th National Assembly is currently at the phase of concluding the process of amending the 1999 Constitution to pave the way for the establishment of state police. Indeed, the process will soon be completed at the National Assembly.
 
Bamidele, however, explained that after the National Assembly had concluded its part, the proposal would be transmitted “to the State Houses of Assembly for consideration and scrutiny, which would require a two-thirds approval before the state police could come on stream.”
 
He, specifically, appealed to the sub-national governments and legislatures to see the state police proposal as an issue of strategic national importance that should not be subjected to partisan politics or ethno-religious consideration.
 
Before the state police became effective, the leader of the senate challenged both federal and state governments to embrace and implement the safe school initiative as a stop-gap measure to address the number of out-of-school children, currently standing at 18.3 million across the federation.
 
He said the incessant abduction of students and teachers “is a tragic national concern that negates our national development indices. We cannot and must not allow it to continue. At the National Assembly, we will rise against this trend and put an end to it through the instrumentality of legislation.
 
“As soon as the National Assembly resumes plenaries on June 2, we will perfect all outstanding legislative initiatives that have been introduced to decisively address security challenges in the federation.
 
“One of such initiatives is the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution that seeks to establish state police, which is now at an advanced stage. Another is the amendment of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 aimed at strengthening the system of consequence in the country’s justice sector and discouraging heinous crimes nationwide.”

Directorate of Media and Public Affairs,
Office of the Leader of the Senate,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
17th May 2026.

By George Mgbeleke

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) expresses deep sorrow, profound outrage, and serious national concern over the latest building collapse in the Durumi area of Abuja which reportedly claimed no fewer than five lives and left several others trapped beneath rubble.

This tragic incident is not an isolated accident.

It is the latest symptom of a long-standing structural and institutional failure within the administration of the Federal Capital Territory.

For over a decade, Abuja has witnessed recurring incidents of collapsed residential and commercial buildings, many of which were entirely preventable if regulatory institutions had functioned professionally, transparently, and without political interference.

HURIWA strongly believes that the repeated collapse of buildings across the FCT reflects a dangerous combination of regulatory negligence, compromised engineering standards, weak enforcement mechanisms, institutional corruption, political patronage, and the deployment of substandard construction materials by desperate developers seeking profit at the expense of human lives.

The painful truth is that many buildings collapsing in Abuja are products of systemic failure long before they physically cave in.

Professional engineers, architects, urban planners, builders, and quantity surveyors have repeatedly identified common technical factors responsible for these disasters:

use of substandard reinforcement materials,
weak concrete mixtures,
structural overloading,
illegal modifications,
poor soil analysis,
compromised foundations,
non-compliance with approved engineering specifications,
and the absence of rigorous integrity testing during construction stages.

Yet despite repeated warnings from professionals and regulatory bodies, successive FCT administrations have failed to establish a sustainable, transparent, and technologically driven compliance mechanism capable of preventing structural disasters.

HURIWA recalls that since 2015, Abuja has recorded multiple building collapses in areas including Jabi, Gwarinpa, Kubwa, Lokogoma, Sabon Lugbe, Lifecamp, Guzape, and other rapidly expanding districts where aggressive real estate speculation has overtaken regulatory discipline.

In many cases, investigations were announced with media fanfare, committees were established, reports were written, and promises were made — only for institutional silence and impunity to eventually prevail.

Nothing fundamentally changed.

The cycle continues because there are rarely consequences for regulatory failures.

The central tragedy of Abuja’s urban crisis is that the city is increasingly being governed more as a political estate-sharing arrangement than as a carefully regulated capital territory deserving world-class planning standards.

Many successive FCT ministers appear more interested in allocating lands — including environmentally protected green areas — to political associates, business allies, family members, cronies, and privileged networks than in building enduring institutional legacies rooted in safety, planning discipline, and sustainable urban governance.

The consequence is the emergence of chaotic construction patterns, overstretched infrastructure, compromised environmental standards, and dangerous structural practices across the Federal Capital Territory.

Abuja was designed to be a modern, properly regulated capital city governed by strict masterplan principles.

Sadly, what Nigerians increasingly witness today is the commercialization of land administration without corresponding commitment to structural safety and urban integrity.

HURIWA therefore demands:

An independent judicial panel of inquiry into recurring building collapses in the FCT since 2015.
Public prosecution of developers, contractors, engineers, and regulatory officials found culpable in negligence or approval fraud.
Immediate structural integrity audits of ongoing high-rise and major construction projects across Abuja.
Full digitalization and public transparency of building approval processes.
Mandatory integrity certification at every critical construction phase.
Stronger collaboration between COREN, NSE, NIA, and urban development regulators.
Criminal sanctions against officials approving illegal structures or compromised projects.

We further call on FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to move beyond reactive sympathy visits and emergency interventions by initiating a lasting institutional reform capable of restoring confidence in Abuja’s urban regulatory architecture.

Providing free treatment for survivors is commendable, but preventing avoidable deaths must remain the primary responsibility of government.

Nigeria cannot continue normalizing building collapses as routine urban occurrences.

Every collapsed structure represents institutional failure.
Every avoidable death represents regulatory negligence.
Every compromised building approval represents corruption with deadly consequences.

The lives lost in Durumi must not become another forgotten statistic buried beneath official statements and temporary outrage.