A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai to enter his defence in his trial for allegedly intercepting the telephone communications of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, throwing out the no-case submission with which he had sought to be discharged without testifying.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, ruling on the application, held that the Department of State Services, DSS, which is prosecuting the case, had produced sufficient evidence to require the defendant to explain himself.
The judge dismissed the submission as lacking in merit, holding that the oral and documentary evidence placed before the court was strong enough to warrant explanations from the former governor.
She stressed, however, that the decision was not a finding on his guilt. The court, she said, had yet to determine culpability either way.The case was adjourned to November 25, 2026, for the defence to open its case.
El-Rufai’s counsel, Paul Erokor, SAN, had urged the court to discharge and acquit his client, arguing that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case and that the charge was incompetent.
Prosecution counsel Oluwole Aladedoye, SAN, countered that the evidence, including an exhibit said to contain the defendant’s alleged admission, tied him to the allegations and required an answer.
The charge
The former governor is answering a five-count amended charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026, filed over alleged unlawful interception of telephone communications and failure to report the offence.
The offences are said to be punishable under Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024, and provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
He pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned on April 23.
The prosecution called only two witnesses before closing its case in June. The first, a DSS operative identified in court by the code name “APC,” testified on how the agency monitored and preserved the recording of the television interview at the centre of the case.
The second, Abuja lawyer and rights activist Deji Adeyanju, told the court he was in the Arise Television studio when El-Rufai granted the interview, and the court watched the recording.
Under cross-examination, Adeyanju said he heard the former governor say “we listened to their calls,” but conceded that El-Rufai never expressly said he had personally tapped the NSA’s telephone.
How the case began
The charge sheet traces back to February 12, when DSS operatives attempted to arrest El-Rufai on his arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, from Cairo, Egypt. The arrest was unsuccessful, but his international passport was seized.
The following day, appearing on Arise Television’s Prime Time, El-Rufai said he knew Ribadu had ordered his arrest after listening to a wiretapped telephone conversation in which the NSA allegedly gave the instruction to security operatives.
He also described the airport move as an attempted “abduction” instigated by the ICPC at Ribadu’s prompting.
The DSS treated those remarks as an admission, and filed the charges. El-Rufai then mounted a separate bid to quash the charge on 17 grounds, arguing that a “casual remark” on a television programme could not be elevated to a judicial confession because it was made without caution and outside custody.
The court declined to quash the charge and ordered an accelerated hearing.
Detention began on February 16, when he honoured an invitation by the EFCC. He was later handed over to the ICPC, which confirmed on February 19 that he was in its custody. He has remained there since — a point Vanguard reflected in describing him on Monday as the “detained former governor.”
He was granted bail by Justice Abdulmalik on May 18, but the conditions — including a federal civil servant of not less than Grade Level 17, with a Certificate of Occupancy for a property in Maitama or Asokoro — have not been met. On July 23, the judge refused an application to vary them.
A Kaduna High Court had earlier, on June 29, refused him bail on health grounds after the National Hospital in Abuja disowned a medical report presented on his behalf.
El-Rufai also faces separate corruption charges filed by the ICPC before courts in Kaduna arising from his eight years as governor.
Political weather
Monday’s ruling lands in a crowded season for the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory. Last week, an FCT High Court dismissed his N120 million fundamental rights suit against the DSS, EFCC, ICPC and the Attorney-General of the Federation, holding that the invitation letters and the airport watchlist action did not breach his rights, and awarded N200,000 in costs to each of the four respondents.
Crediblenewsng.com
