Phone Tapping Charges: Court postpones El-Rufai’s bail hearing, orders his remand

The SSS arraigned Mr El-Rufai on Thursday on charges of tapping National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu’s phone call.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, postponed the hearing of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s bail application, following his arraignment on phone tapping charges.

The judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, set 18 May for the hearing.

She ordered the former governor remanded in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS), the prosecuting agency, pending the bail hearing.

Until Thursday, Mr El-Rufai was in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) which is prosecuting in separate corruption trials before two courts in Kaduna.

The SSS filed the phone tapping charges against Mr El-Rufai in February, following his claim on a live television programme that he intercepted National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu’s phone call.

After Mr El-Rufai pleaded not guilty to five amended charges, his lawyer, Oluwole Iyamu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), requested a hearing for the former governor’s bail.

Mr Iyamu told the court of the bail application was filed on 17 February.

But the bail hearing stalled due to the absence of Mr El-Rufai’s further affidavit supporting the bail application in the file.

The judge initially paused proceedings for the document to be produced in the case file, but she eventually adjourned the hearing until 18 May.

Charges

Earlier, prosecution lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the court that amended five charges were filed against the defendant on 13 April.

The lawyer prayed the court to substitute the amended charges with the earlier indictment containing three counts.

“We pray that the earlier charge be struck out my lord,” he said.

Responding, Mr El-Rufai’s lawyer, Oluwole Iyamu, also a SAN, said he had been served with the amended charges.

He said he had no objection to the amended charges.

The judge then struck out the earlier indictment with three charges.

In the amended charges read to Mr El-Rufai on Thursday, the SSS accused him of “Intentionally and unlawfully interfering with the communication of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.”

The spy agency also charged him with securing classified information and aiding call interception without reporting to security agencies.

It also alleged that Mr El-Rufai “used technical equipment which compromised public safety, national security and instilled reasonable apprehension of insecurity among Nigerians,” while intercepting Mr Ribadu’s communication.

The charges were brought under the Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order of 2024 and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Amendment Act.

Mr El-Rufai denied all charges.

Backstory

The charges followed Mr El-Rufai’s claim in an interview on an Arise Television programme in February that he, with someone, intercepted NSA Ribadu’s phone call.

In the call, he said the NSA directed security operatives to detain him. He linked the alleged directive to an attempted arrest at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on 12 February after his return from Cairo, Egypt.

Videos that circulated online at the time showed a brief confrontation between security personnel and the former governor’s entourage. His passport was reportedly confiscated during the airport encounter.

His arraignment, originally set for February, was delayed due to Mr El-Rufai’s detention at the ICPC at the time.

Mr El-Rufai, a critic of the President Bola Tinubu, is facing investigations and prosecutions by different agencies.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) first arrested him in February.

The ICPC immediately arrested him three days after the EFCC released him.

While in ICPC custody, ICPC agents raided his house in Abuja to conduct a search.

Mr El-Rufai subsequently filed a N1 billion suit against ICPC for what he described as an illegal search of his residence.

The ICPC is now prosecuting him in two separate corruption cases in Kaduna.

Earlier this week, one of the courts in Kaduna denied him bail and ordered him to remain in ICPC custody.