The National Hospital, Abuja, has disowned a medical report allegedly issued in the name of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, saying it has no record of him as a patient and did not authorise the document.
The hospital made this known in a letter dated June 18, 2026, signed by its Chief Medical Director, Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud, in response to a request by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission seeking to verify the authenticity of the report.
The letter, referenced NHA/CMD/GC/2026/VOL.199, followed an inquiry by the anti-graft agency over a medical report purportedly issued by the hospital.
The development came days after the Kaduna State High Court dismissed El-Rufai’s fresh application for bail on medical grounds in the criminal case instituted against him by the ICPC.
According to the commission, Justice D. H. Khobo, in a ruling delivered on June 29, rejected the former governor’s third bail application after finding that the medical report relied upon had been discredited.
In the letter, the hospital confirmed that Dr Bello Abubakar Mohammed, whose name appeared on the disputed report, is a Chief Consultant Radiation Oncologist employed by the hospital on a post-retirement contract appointment.
However, the management said an extensive search of its records showed that El-Rufai had never been registered or treated at the facility.
The CMD stated, “We still searched through our Electronic Medical Records using the name El-Rufai Nasir Ahmad, using different permutations, and also painstakingly searched through the names of patients that visited Oncology clinic around the 1st and 2nd weeks of June 2026, but could not find a name that matched.”
Mahmud explained that the absence of a hospital number on the report made verification more difficult.
“Having the hospital number or a personal phone number would have given us specific identifiers for the search. So, going by above, we could say that the name Malam El-Rufai Nasir Ahmad is not a registered name or patient in the National Hospital Abuja,” he said.
He added that the hospital found no hospital number, treatment records, consultation history or payment receipts linking the former governor to the hospital.
“We are not able to identify visits to any department or doctors in the National Hospital,” the letter stated.
The hospital also distanced its management from the disputed medical report.
“The Management of National Hospital was not aware of the report written by Professor Bello Abubakar Mohammed dated 10th June, 2026 until presented by the ICPC. Even though it was written on the National Hospital letterhead, it is not with the knowledge of the Hospital Management,” the CMD said.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ICPC said El-Rufai had applied for bail on the grounds that he was suffering from advanced metastatic prostate cancer requiring specialised treatment allegedly unavailable in Nigeria.
The commission said it opposed the application by tendering the National Hospital’s response, which disowned the medical report and confirmed that the former governor had no medical records at the hospital.
According to the ICPC, Justice Khobo held that the credibility of the medical report had been “fundamentally undermined” after it was formally disowned by the institution on whose letterhead it was written.
The court ruled that the report could not be relied upon in determining the bail application because there was no credible and institutionally verified medical evidence to support the request.
The judge, however, directed the ICPC to continue granting El-Rufai unrestricted access to his personal doctors and to escort him to any specialised diagnostic or medical facility of his choice within Nigeria whenever necessary during the trial.
The commission said it would continue to comply with the court’s directive.
It added that the ruling reaffirmed the principle that applications for bail on medical grounds must be supported by credible and verifiable evidence, while reiterating its commitment to conducting investigations and prosecutions professionally and in accordance with the rule of law.
El-Rufai is facing criminal charges before the Kaduna State High Court over alleged abuse of office, fraud and procurement-related offences.
He is also standing trial before the Federal High Court in a separate case involving allegations of money laundering and possession of proceeds of corruption.
The former governor has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, while both cases are still pending before the courts.
