El Rufai
El-Rufai phone-tapping trial: DSS witness tells court how ex-governor confessed on live TV
The prosecution in the ongoing trial of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai opened its case on Monday, calling an official of the Department of State Services (DSS) as its first witness.
El-Rufai is facing a five-count charge, including the alleged interception of phone conversations belonging to National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu.
The witness, whose identity was concealed and referred to only as “APC” based on an earlier ruling by trial judge Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, testified that the DSS uncovered El-Rufai’s involvement in the alleged phone tapping after monitoring an interview he granted on Arise Television.
Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel Oluwole Aladedoye (SAN), the witness confirmed that he knew the defendant, describing him as a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and ex-governor of Kaduna State, and named him as Nasir El-Rufai.
“My Lord, the service got information that the defendant would appear on Arise TV Prime Time Show,” the witness said.
He stated that operatives watched the programme, after which he reported to his director. “I told them that there was a confessional statement where the defendant said he tapped the conversation of the National Security Adviser.”
The witness added that the video was subsequently transferred to a flash drive to preserve its integrity and kept in the case file.
He noted that his director later informed the agency’s management about the matter.
Aladedoye sought to tender the flash drive and a certificate of compliance as evidence, a request that El-Rufai’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro (SAN), did not oppose. Justice Abdulmalik admitted both as Exhibits A and A1.
Shortly thereafter, Aladedoye applied for the video of the interview to be played in open court, and the judge granted the application.
El-Rufai, dressed in a blue agbada, watched the playback from the dock alongside others in the courtroom.
The video showed El-Rufai responding to questions from Arise TV anchor Charles Aniagolu. When asked about an alleged incident at Abuja airport upon his return from Egypt, El-Rufai narrated the events of that day.
He said: “I came out of the plane and a young man came to me and said, ‘I am SSS and they would want to meet with me in our office.’ I asked him for a letter of invitation, and he said their boss had it in the office. I said okay. As I was going, I saw more people coming and surrounding me. As I moved forward, two officers came again and asked me to go to their office.”
In the same video, El-Rufai said he told the officers that without a letter of invitation, he would not follow them, but they insisted. “I told them that even the President cannot tell me what to do,” he added.
He also claimed that before a passport is stamped, DSS operatives must inspect it, but the officer who stamped his passport said nothing.
“I said to myself that if there was any issue, the SSS official would not have stamped my passport. After that, they continued following me and about 50 SSS operatives tried to arrest me, but the people who came to receive me at the airport said they would not allow them to take me.”
El-Rufai further stated that operatives later demanded to see his passport; one of his aides collected it from him, but the officers snatched it from the aide.
Describing the use of security agencies against him as troubling, he added: “They told the SSS to abduct me. EFCC had invited me before I travelled and I told them that I would return.”
He also said he knew Ribadu had instructed the SSS to arrest him because someone had tapped his phone conversation. When Aniagolu suggested that phone tapping was wrong, El-Rufai replied: “We listened to their calls, someone tapped the phone conversation and told us that he gave the order. The National Security Adviser told the SSS that I must be abducted today. When you try to take a person without a valid order, it is not an arrest, it is an abduction.”
Aniagolu then suggested the officers may have been trying to compel him to honour an invitation, to which El-Rufai responded that there is no law requiring an invitation to be honoured the same day.
Elsewhere in the interview, El-Rufai claimed he had 16 years of public service without ever taking a bribe, adding: “I have told Nigerians to come forward and prove me wrong.”
He also asserted that he was being persecuted for political reasons, allegedly orchestrated by the Federal Government through his successors, and that investigators had questioned several people without finding evidence against him.
He accused the administration of becoming desperate and said that in a civilised country, people are not investigated by being abducted.
He further claimed the case against him was linked to pressure on him to support President Bola Tinubu’s second-term bid, adding that he was not afraid of scrutiny because he had documentation of his activities in office.
At one point, the video’s audio quality deteriorated and eventually stopped due to technical issues.
Aladedoye then requested an adjournment to produce a clearer version of the recording. With no objection from Erokoro, Justice Abdulmalik adjourned further hearing until Tuesday, May 19.
In earlier rulings, Justice Abdulmalik had granted El-Rufai bail set at N100 million with one surety in the same amount. She ordered that the surety must reside in either Maitama or Asokoro districts of Abuja and deposit the original Certificate of Occupancy of a landed property at the court’s registry.
The surety must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17, provide evidence of salary payments for at least three months authenticated by a bank manager’s letter within the court’s jurisdiction, depose to an affidavit of means, enter a bail bond, and submit a recent passport photograph to the court registry.
The judge also ordered El-Rufai to deposit all valid international passports with the court. A verification letter from the surety’s immediate department must be submitted alongside a tax clearance certificate covering the last six months.
The defendant is to report to DSS headquarters every last Friday of the month by 10am to sign an attendance register pending the case’s conclusion, with failure to comply leading to automatic bail revocation.
Additionally, El-Rufai must submit a letter of attestation from the Chairman of the Kaduna Traditional Council.
In another ruling, the judge granted the prosecution’s application to shield the identities of its DSS witnesses, ordering that they be identified only by pseudonyms.
In a third ruling, Justice Abdulmalik rejected the defence’s application to be furnished with all the evidence the prosecution intended to rely on, holding that the proof of evidence already served on the defence was sufficient and that the prosecution is not statutorily required to disclose its entire body of evidence.
In a fourth ruling, the judge dismissed the defence’s application seeking to quash the amended charge and discharge the defendant, ruling that Section 221 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) does not permit such an application.
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