Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has disclosed that he and others listened to the telephone conversations of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, through an individual who allegedly tapped the security chief’s phone.
The Independent Mirror reports that El-Rufai made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Friday night while recounting his experience with operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
When told by the Arise Television presenter that tapping the NSA’s phone was illegal, El-Rufai responded, “I know, but the government does it all the time.
They listen to our calls all the time without a court order. But someone tapped his phone and told us that he gave the order.”
“Nuhu made the call and gave the order that I must be in custody yesterday. I know he made the call because we listen to their calls. The government thinks they’re the only ones that listen to calls, but we also have our ways.
“He made the call; he gave the order. Someone tapped his phone and told me,” El-Rufai said.
He noted that his lawyers had informed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that he was on his annual vacation and would honour the commission’s invitation upon his return to the country.
“I want to add something because my lawyer issued a statement after that incident mentioning the EFCC. I want to say it very clearly that it wasn’t the EFCC.
“It was the DSS, but the DSS were procured to abduct me by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which had never communicated with me before.
“The EFCC had written to me while I was away, saying they ‘would like to have a chat with you over certain issues,’ and my lawyers replied that I was not in the country.
“So, it wasn’t the EFCC. My lawyer initially thought it was the EFCC.
Subsequently, we found out that it was the ICPC that procured the DSS to abduct me and then hand me over to them. This is a modus operandi of the ICPC, which has increasingly become a personal tool of Nuhu Ribadu,” he added.
He, however, commended the EFCC, saying the commission had shown itself to be more professional, adding that he would honour the agency’s invitation on Monday, February 16.
El-Rufai further revealed that the ICPC wrote to him on Thursday, inviting him for questioning on Friday, February 13.
“Yesterday, around 5:00 p.m., the ICPC finally did the right thing—not the DSS that tried to abduct me—by bringing a letter to my house stating, ‘We want to see you by Friday the 13th.’
“But my lawyer wrote back to them that I was not available, and I will honour the EFCC’s invitation on Monday and go to the ICPC either on Tuesday or Wednesday,” he said.
El-Rufai had resisted an attempted arrest at the Abuja airport on Thursday after SSS operatives accosted him and seized his passport.
