Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai was arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja on a five-count charge related to the alleged unlawful interception of the phone communications of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu. The Department of State Services (DSS) brought the charges, which are endorsed by five prosecutors led by M. E. Ernest, under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024, and the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. The DSS alleged that El-Rufai admitted during an Arise TV Prime Time Programme appearance on February 13 to being involved with others in intercepting the NSA's phone calls. He is accused of violating Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes Act for the interception and Section 27(b) for failing to report the crime after knowing about it. The charge also states that he used technical equipment in collaboration with others still at large, compromising public safety and national security, contrary to Section 131(2) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. El-Rufai pleaded not guilty to all counts before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik. His legal team, led by Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, applied for bail pending trial.
El-Rufai faces charges for admitting on live television that he participated in phone tapping and failed to report it, yet presents himself as a reformer. Nigerians who once saw him as a model administrator must now reconcile that image with his public admission of undermining national security. If intercepting the NSA's phone was justified, why seek bail instead of defending it as policy? The court case will test whether such actions were personal overreach or part of a broader pattern of executive impunity.
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