The Federal Government has filed a three-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja, against Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former Kaduna State Governor, for allegedly wiretapping the telephone lines of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), thereby violating the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, and the Nigerian Communications Act.
The charge, instituted by the Nigerian domestic intelligence agency, the Department of State Services (DSS), is marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026.
Count one accuses the former Governor of unlawfully intercepting the telephone communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024. The charge stated that Mallam El Rufai admitted on February 13, 2026, while appearing as a guest on Arise TV Station’s Prime Time Programme in Abuja, to intercepting Mallam Ribadu’s phone conversation with his cohorts.
Count two alleged that on the same day and during the same TV programme, Mallam El Rufai stated that he knows and related with certain individual, who unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of Mallam Ribadu, without reporting the said individual to relevant security agencies, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 27 (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.
The third count stated that Mallam El Rufai, with others still at large, used technical equipment or systems which compromised public safety, national security, and instilling reasonable apprehension of insecurity among Nigerians by unlawfully intercepting the phone communications of the National Security Adviser, to which he admitted during an interview on February 13, 2025, on Arise TV, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 131 (2) of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
Meanwhile, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Nigeria, Justice John Tsoho, assigned the case to Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja, who has fixed February 25, 2026, for the hearing of the case.
