Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was detained at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja on Monday.
The former governor, NewsSpecng gathered, was drilled for hours over an alleged N432 billion corruption probe.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly had submitted a report accusing his administration of misappropriating loans, violating due process in contract awards and plunging the state into heavy debt.
El-Rufai, was the governor of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
Now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, the formal governor is also expected to face criminal prosecution over the alleged bugging of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu’s phone.
He was said to have arrived at the commission’s Jabi headquarters around 10am in response to an invitation,
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has filed criminal charges against the formal governor before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged unlawful interception of the phone communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
The three-count charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026 and filed under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024 and the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, accused El-Rufai of admitting during a television interview that he and unnamed associates unlawfully intercepted Ribadu’s communications.
According to the charge sheet, the alleged admission was made on February 13, 2026, when El-Rufai appeared as a guest on Arise TV’s Prime Time Programme in Abuja.
In Count One, the Federal Government alleged that El-Rufai “did admit during the interview that you and your cohorts unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu,” an offence said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act, 2024.
Count Two accused him of stating during the same interview that he knew and was associated with an individual who unlawfully intercepted the NSA’s phone communications without reporting the person to relevant security agencies, contrary to Section 27(b) of the Act.
Count Three alleged that El-Rufai and others still at large, sometime in 2026 in Abuja, used technical equipment or systems that compromised public safety and national security by unlawfully intercepting Ribadu’s phone communications, an offence punishable under Section 131(2) of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
The prosecution claimed that the alleged act, which the defendant reportedly admitted to during the television interview, instilled “reasonable apprehension of insecurity among Nigerians.”
No date had been fixed for his arraignment as of press time.
The criminal charges stem directly from El-Rufai’s appearance on Arise TV last Friday, where he claimed he learnt of an alleged plan to arrest him through a leaked conversation from the NSA’s phone.
“Ribadu made the call, because we listened to their calls. The government thinks that they are the only ones who listen to calls.
