Court grants El-Rufai bail in phone tapping trial

Despite the bail, Mr El-Rufai may not be released from custody soon.

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday granted bail to former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in his phone tapping trial.

Judge Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling, in the sum of N100 million.

She observed in the ruling that the prosecution did not oppose Mr El-Rufai’s bail application.

She cited section 36(5) of the Nigerian constitution, which provides that every person charged with a criminal offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The court granted the defendant bail with one surety in like sum.

The judge ruled that the surety must reside in either Maitama or Asokoro districts of Abuja and must deposit the original Certificate of Occupancy of a landed property with the court registry.

The surety is also required to be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17 and must provide evidence of salary payments for at least three months, authenticated by a letter from the manager of the bank within the jurisdiction of the court.

The court further ordered the surety to swear an affidavit of means, enter into a bail bond, and submit a recent passport photograph to the court registry.

As part of the bail conditions, Mr El-Rufai is also to submit his passport to the court, as he is not to travel out of the country without and express permission of the judge throughout the period of his trial.

Judge Abdulmalik also directed that a verification letter from the surety’s immediate department be submitted alongside a tax clearance certificate covering the last six months.

She further ordered the defendant to report to the headquarters of the State Security Services (SSS) every last Friday of the month by 10 a.m. to sign an attendance register pending the determination of the case.

The judge warned that failure to comply would lead to an automatic revocation of the bail.

The court additionally directed the defendant to submit a letter of attestation from the chairperson of the Kaduna Traditional Council.

Despite the bail, Mr El-Rufai may not be released from custody immediately, because he remains under a remand order of the Kaduna State High Court in Kaduna which denied him bail in a corruption trial last month. The Kaduna court, after denying him bail, ordered him to be remanded in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and postponed further proceedings till June.

Backstory

The phone tapping case against Nasir El-Rufai began after hus comments during a television interview in early February. In the interview, Mr El-Rufai said he and someone tapped into the phone call of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. He said Mr Ribadu ordered his arrest in the phone call.

The SSS filed cybercrime related charges against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The agency accused him of unlawful interception of communication and offences linked to national security laws.

On 25 February, the matter came up before Judge Abdulmalik, but the arraignment could not proceed because Mr El-Rufai was not in court. At the time, he was in the custody of the ICPC over separate corruption allegations in Kaduna.

His lawyer asked the court to grant him bail pending arraignment, but the judge refused the oral application and adjourned the case to 23 April.

Meanwhile, the SSS later amended the initial three counts to five counts. The charges centred on allegations that Mr El-Rufai unlawfully intercepted or accessed telephone communications involving Mr Ribadu.

On 23 April, SSS finally arraigned Mr El-Rufai before the court. He pleaded not guilty to all five counts.

During proceedings, the prosecution asked for trial dates, while the defence urged the court to hear an earlier bail application filed in February.

The defence argued that Mr El-Rufai had cooperated with investigators and should be released on bail.

However, the hearing could not be completed due to the absence of Mr El-Rufai’s further affidavit in support of the bail application from the court file.

The development prompted the judge to adjourn the case to Monday for continuation of the bail hearing.

Charges

Mr El-Rufai denied the amended charges during his arraignment.

The SSS alleged that he intentionally and unlawfully interfered with the communication of the National Security Adviser, Mr Ribadu.

It also accused him of obtaining classified information and aiding the interception of calls without notifying security agencies.

The agency further claimed that he used technical equipment in a manner that compromised public safety, national security, and caused reasonable fear of insecurity among Nigerians while allegedly intercepting Mr Ribadu’s communication.

The charges were filed under the Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order 2024 and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Amendment Act.