Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai
By Victory Oghene
The Federal Government has filed charges against the former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.The charges, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026, were filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division, by the Federal Republic of Nigeria as complainant and El-Rufai as defendant.
According to court documents seen by NATIONAL WAVES, El-Russia was charged following an interview he granted to ARISE Television in which he claimed that he and unnamed person had an unlawful interception of the phone communications of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
The case was filed on Monday, barely three days after Mr El-Rufai said during a live interview on Arise TV that the NSA’s phone conversation was intercepted, and that he heard the NSA directing security operatives to detain him.
“The NSA’s call was tapped. They do that to our calls too, and we heard him saying they should arrest me,” Mr El-Rufai claimed during the TV programme on Friday.
Mr El-Rufai said the NSA’s order was behind the alleged attempt to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday.
Recall that El-Rufai was involved in a heated verbal exchange with security operatives at the Abuja airport, shortly after his arrival in the country.
According to eyewitness accounts, security officials briefly restrained him and confiscated his international passport before he was escorted out of the airport amid chants from supporters who had gathered to receive him.
El-Rufai, a critic of the President Bola Tinubu administration who abandoned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last year to join the African Democratic, appeared on Arise TV on the following day Friday to shed light on his airport exchange, when he dropped the call tapping comment.
On Monday, prosecutors from the State Security Services (SSS) filed the cybercrime charges stemming from the interview against him, the filing which circulated online shows.
In the first count, the government alleged that Mr El-Rufai, 65, admitted during an appearance on Arise TV’s Prime Time programme on 13 February that he and others unlawfully intercepted Mr Ribadu’s phone communications.
Prosecutors said the alleged act contravenes Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.
In count two, SSS accused Mr El-Rufai of stating during the same interview that he knew and associated with an individual who unlawfully intercepted the NSA’s communications but failed to report the person to security agencies, contrary to Section 27(b) of the Cybercrimes Act.
The third count alleged that Mr El-Rufai and others now at large used technical equipment or systems in a manner that compromised public safety and national security by intercepting Mr Ribadu’s communications, contrary to Section 131(2) of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
A date for his arraignment has not yet been fixed.
El-Rufai who’s is currently being interogated by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has not publicly responded to the charges as of the time of filing this report.
