The Federal High Court in Abuja continued Nasir El-Rufai’s trial on charges of treason and breach of national security on Tuesday. The prosecution presented evidence to support allegations that the former governor intercepted a private conversation with the National Security Adviser, or NSA.
El-Rufai allegedly said that someone had wiretapped a conversation involving the NSA and sent it to him in a 43-minute interview that the prosecution presented on Arise News Television.
El-Rufai defended the behaviour in the interview by claiming that governments regularly keep an eye on other people’s conversations.
A prosecution witness informed the court that after the broadcast, investigators spoke with NSA Nuhu Ribadu, who attested to the fact that El-Rufai had actually spoken with the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, or ICPC.
The witness claims that after hearing parts of the interview, the ICPC chairman also acknowledged having such a conversation with the NSA.
The witness further stated that a cameraman, activist-lawyer Deji Adeyanju, and the program’s host Charles Aniagolu were invited for interrogation.
El-Rufai acknowledged during the interrogation that someone had intercepted the conversation and transmitted it to him, according to investigators. Aniagolu also insisted that governments routinely engage in similar operations.
The court accepted the prosecution’s statements from Aniagolu and Adeyanju as Exhibits C, C1, and E, respectively, without the defence objecting.
Ugochukwu Agalayana, a cameraman for Arise TV, also provided a statement that was admitted as Exhibit D after he acknowledged that he had set up the equipment used during the interview, but claiming not to have listened to the actual conversation.
The prosecution witness stated that investigators came to the conclusion that El-Rufai made what they called a “open confession” about the NSA’s discussion being intercepted during the television interview.
The witness also stated that the investigative team suggested his prosecution after determining that the act could jeopardise national security.
Exhibit F was a preliminary investigative report submitted by the prosecution.
The witness admitted during cross-examination by defence attorney Chief Paul Erokoro, SAN, that investigators did not look at any NSA-owned communication equipment, get IP addresses, or perform forensic analysis of the purported interception.
However, he insisted that after the NSA allegedly verified the veracity of the discussion mentioned in the interview, such actions were no longer required.
The witness also acknowledged that El-Rufai did not explicitly say in the interview that he personally conducted the interception, but maintained that the former governor consistently maintained the assertion that the discussion had been recorded and sent to him.
The witness stated he thought El-Rufai was a person of integrity and thought he meant what he said during the broadcast when asked if the defendant could just have been boasting as a politician during a highly sensitive television appearance.
After the first prosecution witness finished being cross-examined, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik postponed the trial to June 22 and 23.