Phone Tapping Trial: Adeyanju Testifies Against El-Rufai

A lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, on Monday told the Federal High Court in Abuja that former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, admitted during a television interview that the conversation of the National Security Adviser was listened to.

Naija News reports that Adeyanju, who appeared as the second prosecution witness in the trial of the former governor over alleged phone tapping and breach of national security, said he was present when El-Rufai allegedly made the statement during the interview.

El-Rufai is standing trial over allegations relating to the alleged tapping of the phone lines of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and breach of national security.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Oluwole Aladedoye, Adeyanju confirmed that he knew El-Rufai as a former governor of Kaduna State.

He also recalled issuing a public statement after reports emerged that the former governor was to be arrested by security operatives.

The prosecution tendered the subpoena used to summon Adeyanju to court, and it was admitted in evidence and marked as Exhibit G.

The court also viewed the television interview involving El-Rufai, after which Adeyanju confirmed the recording and the statements allegedly made during the programme.

The prosecution further tendered Adeyanju’s own interview contained on a flash drive, alongside a certificate of compliance.

Both documents were admitted in evidence as Exhibits H and H1.

While giving evidence, Adeyanju told the court that he was later invited by the Department of State Services, where he was asked to recount what happened at the television studio.

According to him, he confirmed to investigators that he was present when El-Rufai made the statements on air.

He added that when El-Rufai was further questioned during the interview, the former governor allegedly said someone carried out the phone tapping and passed the information to him.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Paul Erokoro, Adeyanju said he did not hear El-Rufai specifically say he hacked the phone lines of the NSA.

However, he insisted that he heard the former governor say, “we listened to the conversation of the NSA”.

When asked whether he knew the means through which the NSA makes calls, and whether he would be surprised to learn that DSS investigators did not ask the NSA which of his devices was allegedly compromised, Adeyanju replied that those were not his business.

Meanwhile, the prosecution tendered an official gazette before the court without objection from the defence.

The document was admitted and marked as Exhibit I.

The matter was adjourned until June 23 for the continuation of the trial.