ICPC detention stalls El-Rufai’s arraignment on phone call tapping charges

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, rescheduled the arraignment of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai on phone call tapping charges filed against him by the State Security Service (SSS).

Trial judge Joyce Abdulmalik postponed the arraignment until 23 April because Mr El-Rufai was absent from court due to his ongoing detention by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

PREMIUM TIMES reported that ICPC agents arrested Mr El-Rufai immediately after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) released him from custody in Abuja on last Wednesday night (18 February).

EFCC had detained the former governor at its headquarters in Abuja from Monday (16 February) and before releasing him on bail two days later on Wednesday (18 February), when he was immediately picked up by ICPC operatives.

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SSS lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the judge, Ms Abdulmalik, of Mr El-Rufai’s ongoing detention by the ICPC at Wednesday’s hearing and requested an adjournment of the arraignment.

Mr El-Rufai’s lawyer, Oluwole Iyamu, also a SAN, raised no objection to the request but applied for his client’s bail pending the trial. However, Mr Aladedoye opposed the bail application, describing it as premature. Mr Aladedoye said the “the issue of bail can only be raised after the formal arraignment.”

After hearing from both sides, the judge declined to hear the bail application, agreeing with the prosecution that “Mr El-Rufai could only apply for bail after the arraignment.”

The judge then adjourned the arraignment until 23 April.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier that security was tight around the court premises in anticipation of the scheduled arraignment.

The charges followed Mr El-Rufai’s claim in an interview on an Arise Television programme that he, with someone, intercepted National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu 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 circulating online showed a brief confrontation between security personnel and the former governor’s entourage. His passport was reportedly confiscated during the airport encounter.

Charges

In the three counts filed against Mr El-Rufai, the SSS accused Mr El-Rufai of breaching the Cybercrimes Prohibition Act, (2024), and the Nigerian Communications Act (2003.)

In count one, Mr El Rufai was alleged to have admitted during an interview as a guest on Arise TV station’s Prime Time Programme in Abuja on 13 February that he and someone unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of the NSA, Mr Ribadu.

The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024.

In count two, the ex-governor was alleged to have also said during the interview that he knew and related with a certain individual, who unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of NSA, without reporting the said individual to relevant security agencies.

The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 27 (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024.

Count three alleged that Mr El Rufai and others still at large, sometime in 2026, in Abuja, did use technical equipment or systems which compromised public safety, national security and instilling reasonable apprehension of insecurity among Nigerians by unlawfully intercepting the NSA’s phone communications.

SSS said the act is contrary to and punishable under Section 131(2) Nigerian Communications Act 2003.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Tuesday that Mr El-Rufai already filed an application urging the judge to quash the phone tapping charges on the grounds that they are incompetent, disclose no offence known to law, and constitute what he described as a gross abuse of court process

Similarly, Mr El-Rufai sued the ICPC for N1 billion on 20 February over a recent reported raid on his Abuja residence by the operatives of the anti-corruption agency.

He filed the suit through his lawyer, Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, suing the ICPC alongside a chief magistrate of the Magistrate’s Court of the FCT, Abuja Magisterial District; the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

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Mr El-Rufai asked the court to declare that the search warrant issued on 4 February by the chief magistrate authorising the search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, as invalid, null and void.

He contended that the warrant lacked particularity, contained material drafting errors, was ambiguous in its execution parameters, overbroad in scope, and unsupported by probable cause.

Mr El-Rufai, a critic of the President Bola Tinubu, is facing investigations by different agencies, including the EFCC and the ICPC which are both investigating him for alleged corruption, details of which they have yet to publicly disclose.