A lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, who is the second prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the ex-governor allegedly admitted during a television interview that “we listened to the conversation of the NSA.”
The case, heard at the Federal High Court, Abuja, involves allegations of phone tapping of the National Security Adviser and breaches of national security laws.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel Oluwole Aladedoye, Adeyanju confirmed that he knew El-Rufai as a former governor and recalled issuing a public statement after reports surfaced that the ex-governor was to be arrested by security operatives.
The prosecution tendered the subpoena used to summon Adeyanju, which was admitted as Exhibit G by the court.
The court also reviewed a televised interview featuring El-Rufai, after which Adeyanju confirmed both the recording and the statements attributed to the former governor during the programme.
Further evidence presented by the prosecution included Adeyanju’s own interview stored on a flash drive, accompanied by a certificate of compliance. Both were admitted as Exhibits H and H1.
Adeyanju told the court that he was later invited by the Department of State Services, where he was asked to recount his observations from the television studio appearance.
According to his testimony, he confirmed to investigators that he was present when El-Rufai made the statements on air. He further stated that when questioned, the former governor allegedly said that someone carried out the phone tapping and relayed the information to him.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Paul Erokoro, Adeyanju said he did not hear El-Rufai explicitly admit to hacking the phone lines of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, but maintained that he heard the statement: “we listened to the conversation of the NSA.”
When pressed on technical details regarding how the NSA’s communications could have been accessed, Adeyanju responded that such matters were not within his professional responsibility.
The prosecution also tendered an official gazette document, which was admitted without objection from the defence and marked as Exhibit I.
The matter was subsequently adjourned until June 23 for continuation of trial proceedings, as the court continues to examine evidence in the high-profile national security case.
