The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has filed a four-count charge against Bello Abubakar, an oncology consultant at the National Hospital, Abuja and the doctor of a former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.
The doctor was accused of forging a medical report allegedly used to support the bail application of El-Rufai on health grounds.
The charges alleged that Abubakar knowingly issued a false medical report, titled: “Medical Report and Expert Opinion for Urgent Medical Intervention,” dated June 10, 2026, to mislead a public officer and support El-Rufai’s bail application in a case, marked: KDH/KAD/ICPC/02/2026, before the Kaduna State High Court.
The first count accused him of giving false information with the intent to mislead a public officer, contrary to Section 17(1)(c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The second count alleged that he abused his position as a medical consultant by knowingly issuing the false report to confer an unfair advantage, contrary to Section 19 of the same Act.
The third count accused the professor of acting in concert with one Aliyu Bala to fabricate false information by authoring the report, thereby enabling Bala to depose to a further affidavit in support of El-Rufai’s bail application, contrary to Section 79 of the Penal Code.
In the fourth count, the ICPC alleged that Abubakar dishonestly made a false document by presenting the report as though it had the authority of the National Hospital, Abuja, despite allegedly knowing it was not authorised by the hospital, contrary to Sections 362 and 364 of the Penal Code.
The filing indicated that the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the National Hospital, Dr. Raji Mahmud, is expected to testify that Abubakar issued the report in El-Rufai’s favour without conducting the required medical examination, and that he handed it to the former governor’s family for use in support of his bail application.
Mahmud is also expected to tell the court that the National Hospital, in its response to ICPC investigators, stated that it did not authorise the report attributed to the defendant.
According to the filing, investigations showed that the report was later used by Bala to depose an affidavit supporting El-Rufai’s bail request, and that it was false and did not comply with the hospital’s due process.
In a letter to the ICPC, the CMD confirmed that Abubakar remains attached to the National Hospital as a Chief Consultant Radiation Oncologist on contract after retiring from full-time service.
The hospital also stated that although the report was written on its official letterhead, it bore no hospital number.
A search of its Electronic Medical Records using variations of El-Rufai’s name and records from the Oncology Clinic for the first two weeks of June 2026 found no matching patient record.
The hospital concluded that El-Rufai was not a registered patient at the time, adding that the management was unaware of the report until it was presented by the ICPC and that it neither authorised nor endorsed it.
In his statement to investigators, however, Abubakar maintained that El-Rufai had been registered as a patient at the National Hospital since 2005, adding that he had attended to him on several occasions, though some consultations were not formally documented.
He claimed to have documented no more than four consultations between 2017 and 2025.
He said he consulted for the former governor three times between 2025 and 2026, while El-Rufai was in ICPC custody, including two visits to the commission’s facility and one to the National Hospital.
The CMD’s account, however, contradicted Abubakar’s claims, stating that to the hospital’s knowledge, El-Rufai was registered as a patient only on July 7, 2026, and that the hospital was previously unaware that the former governor had ever been a patient.
The ICPC listed its investigator, Olugbemi Osanoto, and Mahmud as principal witnesses, alongside a representative of the Kaduna State High Court and any other witnesses to be produced by subpoena.
The commission also listed documentary evidence, including Abubakar’s extrajudicial statements dated July 9 and 14, 2026; the CMD’s statement dated July 10; hospital correspondence, dated June 18 and July 10, 2026; and a wallet deposit record dated July 7, 2026.
