Alleged wire-tapping: El-Rufai should be investigated, punished  — Presidency

The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, has called for a thorough investigation into claims of wire-tapping made by a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.

Onanuga made the call in a post on X on Friday, reacting to comments by El-Rufai during an interview on ARISE TV Prime Time.

In the interview, El-Rufai alleged that the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, ordered his arrest following what he described as a failed attempt to detain him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday.

The former governor claimed that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) used the Department of State Services (DSS) to carry out the operation.

“We found out that it was the ICPC that procured the DSS to abduct me and then hand me over to them,” El-Rufai said.

“And this is a modus operandi of the ICPC that increasingly has become a personal tool of Nuhu Ribadu. Nuhu made the call and made the order that I must be in custody yesterday.”

When asked how he knew Ribadu authorised the action, El-Rufai replied: “He made the call because we listened to their calls. The government thinks that they are the only ones that listen to calls. But we also have our ways.”

Reacting to the statement, Onanuga, in a tweet, said the former governor’s remarks amounted to an admission of illegal wire-tapping and should attract the attention of law enforcement agencies.

“El-Rufai confesses to wire-tapping Nigeria’s NSA on TV,” Onanuga wrote.

“Does it mean that he and his collaborators have wire-tapping facilities? This should be thoroughly investigated and punishment meted out. El-Rufai is not too big to face the wrath of the law.”

Meanwhile, Human Rights lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, has described the attempt to arrest El-Rufaias “karma” catching up him.

Adeyanju said he was not convinced there was any concrete plan to arrest Nasir El-Rufai.

According to him, Nigeria’s laws provide for arrest either with a warrant issued by a court or on the basis of probable cause as permitted under extant legal provisions.

He maintained that if authorities had intended to detain the former governor, there were established legal mechanisms to do so.