By Kingston Magare 20.2.2026
Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai on February 25, 2026 will appear at a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to face charges of cybercrime and breach of national security.
The charges were slammed on him by the Department of State Services. El-Rufai has been grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision and currently he is in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
But it emerged Friday that El-Rufai will face Justice Joyce Abdulmalik to explain what he knew about the bugging of the phone line of National Security Advisers Nuhu Ribadu. According to the court fillings the DSS is claiming that El- Rufai admitted knowledge of the interception of the NSA’s telephone lines and failed to report those involved to security authorities.
The first count accuses him of directly breaching Nigeria’s cybercrime laws through unlawful interception of private communications.
The second count focuses on his alleged failure to disclose information about individuals responsible for the act. Prosecutors argue that such silence aided a serious security breach.
In the third count, the DSS alleged that El-Rufai and others still at large used technical systems to interfere with the NSA’s communication in a manner that endangered public safety and created fear among citizens. The charge also states that the act undermined national security.
Ribadu and El-Rufai...cold war.