The no-case submission filed by former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, concerning the alleged unlawful interception of telephone conversations involving National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, was dismissed on Monday by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a ruling, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik held that the prosecution had provided sufficient evidence to require El-Rufai to enter his defense in the five-count amended charge filed against him by the Department of State Services.
The judge therefore ordered the former governor to open his defense and adjourned the case until November 25, 2026, for him to do so.
El-Rufai filed the no-case submission after the Federal Government closed its case, following the testimony of two prosecution witnesses.
Through his counsel, Paul Erokoro, the former governor asked the court to discharge and acquit him, arguing that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him.
Erokoro maintained that the evidence presented by the prosecution was not sufficient to justify compelling his client to enter a defense to the allegations.
However, opposing the application, prosecution counsel Oluwole Aladedoye urged the court to dismiss the no-case submission and direct El-Rufai to defend himself against the charges.
Aladedoye argued that the oral and documentary evidence presented before the court was enough to establish a case requiring the defendant to respond to the allegations.
In ruling on the application, Justice Abdulmalik agreed with the prosecution that the case should proceed to the defense stage, thereby rejecting El-Rufai’s request for discharge and acquittal at that stage of the proceedings.
The charges arise from allegations that El-Rufai unlawfully intercepted telephone conversations linked to Ribadu.
The controversy followed an interview the former governor granted on Prime Time, an Arise Television program, in February 2026, during which he claimed that Ribadu’s telephone conversation had been intercepted.
During the interview, El-Rufai said, “Someone wiretapped” the NSA’s phone, enabling him to listen to a conversation in which Ribadu allegedly instructed security operatives to arrest him.
The allegation subsequently became the basis of the DSS prosecution against the former governor.
With the court’s dismissal of the no-case submission, El-Rufai is expected to present his defense when the case resumes on November 25.
