Pelumi Olajengbesi, a lawyer, has urged the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to investigate former Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai over his “public admission” that he “procured” the tapping and recording of telephone conversations of Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA).
In an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time, el-Rufai claimed that “someone tapped” Ribadu’s phone, enabling him to listen to a conversation in which the NSA allegedly “ordered” his arrest.
Olajengbesi, in a statement on Sunday, stressed that the matter is “not a political drama or public banter.” He described el-Rufai’s admission as “an allegation of a grave criminal enterprise which strikes directly at the heart of Nigeria’s national security architecture and the integrity of the Nigerian State.”
The lawyer highlighted that deliberate interception, tapping, or recording of private telephone communications without lawful authority constitutes a serious criminal offence under the Cybercrimes Act, particularly Section 8, which criminalises unlawful interception of electronic communications.
He added that the matter is especially alarming given Ribadu’s role in safeguarding sensitive intelligence and national defence communications. “Any unauthorised tapping of the NSA’s communication is not merely an offence against an individual; it is an offence against the sovereignty and security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, raising the spectre of espionage, sabotage, and unlawful intelligence gathering—acts that demand urgent investigation and decisive prosecution under the law,” Olajengbesi said.
Earlier, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, also called for a thorough probe into el-Rufai’s comments, describing them as a “confession” and questioning whether he and his unnamed “collaborators” have access to wire-tapping facilities.
