Ribadu’s Bugged Phone: Calls Increase For El-Rufai's Probe
By Tony Enokela
Former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El Rufai, yesterday, has attracted criticisms from different quarters after publicly confessing to accessing an intercepted telephone conversation of National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu.
The general view was that he should be probed and prosecuted for allegedly violating the law of the land.
El Rufai, speaking during an Arise Television interview on Friday, had said he listened to the NSA allegedly instructing security operatives to get him arrested.
“He (Ribadu) made the call because we listened to their call,” the former governor told his interviewer.
He added, “Someone tapped his phone. The government listens to our calls all the time without a court order. Someone tapped his phone and told us that he gave the order.”
El-Rufai justified his action by saying, “Government thinks they are the only ones that listen to calls, but we also have our ways.”
Reacting, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, called for an investigation and possible prosecution of the former governor for his open confession of illegal wire-tapping of the NSA.
“El-Rufai confesses to wire-tapping Nigeria’s NSA on TV. Does it mean that he and his collaborators have wire-tapping facilities?” Onanuga wrote on his verified X handle, @aonanuga1956.
Continuing, he said: “This should be thoroughly investigated, and punishment meted out. El-Rufai is not too big to face the wrath of the law.”
Senior special assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, had earlier expressed shock over the former governor’s statement.
“El-Rufai admitted on a national television that someone tapped the phone of the NSA for him to listen to his conversation.
“When Charles Aniagolu, the interviewer, interjected that that was an illegal action, El-Rufai agreed to the illegality. By the time he is picked up to produce the person who illegally tapped the NSA’s phone, he would say President Tinubu is a ‘tyrant’ and persecuting him,” Ajayi said on Facebook.
Ambassador-designate Reno Omokri wondered who else El Rufai has been wiretapping.
Omokri, in a Facebook post, said: “Tapping a phone call without a court order is a crime. Admitting to it on live television is callous. Confessing that you were an accessory after the fact to unnamed individuals in the illegal tapping of a call is an open-and-shut case of your own culpability.
“Who else has Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and his agents been tapping? Has he and his associates been helping terrorists and coup plotters to tap the phone calls of their intended victims? Don’t forget that this is the same man who admitted to paying killer herdsmen!
“No wonder he boasted that he would unseat President Tinubu in 2027. Has he also tapped the INEC Chairman’s phone number?
“No wonder they wanted real-time transmission of election results. If they can tap a whole National Security Adviser’s phone number, is it INEC, IREV, and BVAS they cannot hack?”
A human rights activist in Kano, Abba Hikima, described the action of the former governor as a grave threat to national security and a brazen disregard for the rule of law.
“So Nasir El-Rufai recklessly admitted on a national television that they are tapping and listening to NSA’s phone calls?” Hikima wrote on his Facebook wall.
The issue, according to the human rights activist, transcends politics, and warned that any unauthorised surveillance of the office of the National Security Adviser undermines public trust and the integrity of Nigeria’s security architecture.
He said, “Now this is beyond politics. It is a threat to national security and brazen confrontation of the rule of law.
“The NSA, no matter how partisan or self-serving he may be, is definitely also serving the Nigerian public in the sensitive matters of their security. Tapping his calls and admitting the same publicly shouldn’t just be condoned.
“Whoever they are that admitted to this conduct should be immediately arrested and interrogated if Nigeria is worth its salt.”
