Former governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai, was granted N100 million bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday.
El-Rufai is standing trial for allegedly unlawfully intercepting the phone calls of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
As part of the bail conditions, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik required the defendant to submit a surety who was a federal civil official with at least Grade Level 17.
According to the court, the surety must not only be a resident of Abuja’s Maitama or Asokoro highbrow areas, but also have the genuine Certificate of Occupancy of a landed property worth at least the bond sum.
It concluded that the surety must additionally submit evidence of wage receipt for at least three months in the form of an authenticated letter from the manager of a bank within the court’s jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the court ordered the surety to file an affidavit of means and submit a recent passport photograph to its registry.
It further stated that a verification letter from the surety’s immediate department, as well as a tax clearance certificate valid for the previous six months, must be submitted.
The defendant was also ordered to forfeit his valid international passports and not travel outside of the country without permission.
Justice Abdulmalik ordered the defendant to report to the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters every last Friday of the month at 10 a.m. to sign an attendance register until the outcome of the case.
The trial judge warned that failing to comply with any of the restrictions would result in an automatic revocation of bail.
In addition, the former governor was required to provide a letter of attestation from the chairman of the Kaduna Traditional Council, while the case was hastened.
El-Rufai, who served as governor from 2015 to 2023 and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, is facing a five-count amended charge dated FHC/ABJ/99/2026.
The DSS claimed that he committed the crime alongside several persons who are now on the run.
It informed the court that the defendant admitted on February 13, when he appeared as a guest on Arise TV Station’s Prime Time Program in Abuja, that he conspired with others to unlawfully intercept the NSA’s phone communications, thereby committing an offense contrary to and punishable under section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.
The security agency further said that during the television interview, the defendant stated that he knew and related to a specific individual who illegally intercepted the NSA’s telephone communications without reporting the person to the appropriate security agencies.
El-Rufai was accused of neglecting to disclose the offense, which is punishable under Section 27 (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act, 2024.
Furthermore, it was alleged that the defendant, while working in collusion with others who remain at large, used technical equipment that jeopardized public safety and national security, instilling reasonable fear of insecurity among Nigerians following the illegal interception of the NSA’s calls.
He was charged with violating and punished under Section 131(2) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003.
Though the prosecution initially filed a three-count complaint against the defendant, the court agreed to replace it with an amended charge when the proceedings resumed on Thursday.
El-Rufai is currently facing several lawsuits in Abuja and Kaduna State.
In response to what he described as an attempt by DSS operatives to “abduct” him at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on February 12, 2026, upon his return from Cairo, he insisted that the security agency was being instigated by the ICPC, which he claimed had received a directive to detain him from the NSA, Ribadu.
The former governor claimed he received the information from someone who listened in on the NSA’s phone talks.
El-Rufai submitted a motion to oppose his trial, citing 17 grounds why the charge brought by the DSS against him, FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026, should be annulled by the court.
Aside from claiming that the accusation was amateurish and legally faulty, the former governor said that the DSS lacked the legal authority to elevate a “casual remark” he made during a television interview to “a confession” that he had truly tapped the NSA’s phone line, as claimed.
He contended that the speech he made on Arise TV did not constitute a confessional statement in law, claiming that for a statement to be admissible as a confession, “it must be made under caution, voluntarily, and in circumstances that satisfy the judges’ rules.”
The former Kaduna governor maintained that statements he made in the course of his television interview were “without any caution or warning, in a voluntary public discussion, and without the protections afforded to suspects in custody.”
“A casual remark in a television program cannot be elevated to a judicial confession,” he further argued.
