A National Hospital Abuja oncologist, Bello Abubakar, admitted writing Nasir El-Rufai’s medical report but denied knowing Mohammed Bala Aliyu linked to its court filing.
The ICPC charged Abubakar with four counts, alleging he knowingly issued a false June 10, 2026 report to support El-Rufai’s bail application in Kaduna.
National Hospital Chief Medical Director, Raji Mahmud, is expected to testify the hospital did not authorise the report, and the case awaits hearing at Kaduna High Court.
A consultant oncologist facing criminal charges over a medical report allegedly used to support the bail application of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has admitted authoring the document but denied knowing the man accused of presenting it in court.
According to Premium Times, the doctor, Bello Abubakar, is a Chief Consultant Clinical and Radiation Oncologist at the National Hospital, Abuja.
In a voluntary statement submitted to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in the presence of his lawyer, Rabiu Suleiman of Mahmud SAN and Co., Abubakar denied authorising anyone to swear to an affidavit on the strength of the report.
“I cannot recall anybody with the name Mohammed Bala Aliyu, and I have never deposed or given him any order or authorised him to depose an affidavit,” he said.
The ICPC filed four counts against the doctor, accusing him of knowingly issuing a false medical report intended to mislead a public officer and facilitate El-Rufai’s bail application.
The case, marked KDH/KAD/ICPC/02/2026, is pending before the Kaduna State High Court.
ICPC Alleges Report Was Fabricated
According to the charge sheet, Abubakar authored a document titled, “Medical Report and Expert Opinion for Urgent Medical Intervention,” dated June 10, 2026.
The commission alleged that the doctor knew the contents of the report were false before it was presented to a Commissioner for Oaths in Kaduna State and subsequently filed in court.
One of the counts accused him of conspiring with an individual identified as Aliyu Bala to prepare the report so that a further affidavit could be sworn in support of the former governor’s bail application.
The alleged offence was said to be contrary to Section 79 of the Penal Code. Abubakar, however, maintained that he had never met or communicated with the alleged accomplice.
“I have no idea who Mohammed Bala Aliyu is and never had any dealing or contact with the same person. Never,” he said.
Doctor Explains Relationship With El-Rufai
Giving an account of his relationship with the former governor, Abubakar said he initially met El-Rufai through his wife, whose first child he delivered.
He said El-Rufai later became his patient but was not registered at his private facility, the Belam Cancer Centre in Jabi, Abuja.
According to him, the former governor was registered as a patient at the National Hospital around 2005. Abubakar said he had worked at the hospital since it commenced operations in September 1999.
He stated that he consulted El-Rufai not more than four times between 2017 and 2025, adding that the consultations were not documented because they did not require formal records.
The doctor said his interactions with the former governor in 2025 were limited to telephone conversations while El-Rufai was outside the country.
Abubakar said he consulted El-Rufai three times between June and July 2026 while the former governor was in ICPC custody.
He stated that the consultations followed requests from El-Rufai’s family.
According to him, two of the meetings took place at the ICPC facility in the presence of officials from the commission’s clinic, while the third was held at the National Hospital.
He said his visits to the ICPC premises were documented at the reception. Narrating the July 9 consultation, Abubakar said he attended to El-Rufai alongside his senior registrar in accordance with standard medical practice.
He added that the hospital’s Chief Medical Director and Director of Clinical Services later joined the session.
According to him, five clinical personnel and El-Rufai’s two wives were present, while no other person was allowed into the consultation room.
Doctor Explains Photographs, Report Procedure
Abubakar also addressed photographs showing him handing a report to El-Rufai’s wives in the presence of ICPC operatives. He said the pictures were taken in the waiting area and not inside the consultation room.
The doctor explained that he was inadvertently captured in one of the photographs before returning to the Oncology Department to attend to an admitted patient.
On the procedure for issuing medical reports at the National Hospital, Abubakar said a patient’s request was normally forwarded to the relevant consultant, who had the discretion to prepare the document.
He stated that after a report was written, it would be stamped at the office of the Director of Clinical Services before being handed to the patient.
He added that it was not his responsibility to determine whether the report was formally registered.
When asked to disclose El-Rufai’s histological diagnosis, Abubakar declined, saying the former governor had not authorised him to release the information.
He maintained that disclosing the diagnosis without the patient’s consent would amount to a breach of medical ethics.
Hospital Denies Authorising Document
Court filings, however, indicated that the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Raji Mahmud, is expected to testify against the oncologist.
Mahmud is expected to tell the court that Abubakar issued the report in El-Rufai’s favour without carrying out the required medical examination and handed it to the former governor’s family for use in the bail application.
The CMD is also expected to testify that the hospital, in its responses to letters from the ICPC, denied authorising the report attributed to Abubakar.
According to the prosecution, investigations by the hospital concluded that the document was false and was not issued in accordance with the required procedure.
