NSA Ribadu’s Plan To Arrest Me Leaked Through His Tapped Phone — El-Rufai

Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has alleged that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, ordered the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on return from Egypt on Thursday.

El-Rufai made the allegation during an interview on Arise News Channel on Friday evening while recounting his dramatic encounter with security operatives at the airport.

He said he declined to accompany the officers because they did not present a formal invitation.

According to him, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had allegedly engaged the DSS to detain him and transfer him to its custody.

“Subsequently, we found out that it was the ICPC that procured the DSS to abduct me and then hand over to them. And this is a modus operandi of the ICPC that increasingly has become a personal tool of Nuhu Ribadu. Nuhu made the call and made the order that I must be in custody yesterday.”

He claimed his associates intercepted communications allegedly linking Ribadu to the directive. When quizzed by the interviewer on how he knew who made the call, he said: “He made the call because we listened to their calls. The government thinks that they’re the only ones that listen to calls. But we also have our ways. He made the call. He gave the order. Someone tapped his phone.”

El-Rufai acknowledged that such interception was illegal but accused authorities of similar actions.

“Because that technically is illegal. I know, but the government does it all the time. They listen to our calls all the time without a court order. But someone tapped his phone and told us that he gave the order.”

He, however, commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), describing its conduct as professional, and said he would honour its invitation.

“But the EFCC, I think, has shown itself to be more professional in this particular instance. And on Monday, by the grace of God, I’ll go and see them.”

The former governor added that the ICPC later delivered a written invitation to his residence around 5 p.m. on Thursday for a meeting this Friday.

“Yesterday, around 5 p.m., the ICPC finally did the right thing, not the DSS that tried to abduct me, by bringing a letter to my house to say, we want to see you on Friday the 13th.

“My lawyer wrote back to say, guys, my client is not an idle person that has no programme. He’s just waiting for a letter from anyone.

We’ve received your letter. Now that you’ve written an invitation, you’ve had the courage to write an invitation, we’ll honor the invitation. But on Monday, we are going to the EFCC that has written before.

“So we’ll go there. After the EFCC, we’ll go to ICPC on Tuesday or Wednesday. I don’t know what the lawyer has written.”

As of the time of filing this report, the DSS, ICPC and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) were yet to respond to the allegations.