*As Judge Dismisses SSS Complaint Against Former Governor’s Family Over Social Media Campaigns
The trial of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over allegations of treason and breach of national security entered its second day at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, with the prosecution playing the full video recording of the Arise News Television interview at the centre of the case, while Justice Joyce Abdulmalik dismissed a complaint by the State Security Service (SSS) accusing the former governor’s family of using social media and press engagements to incite public opinion against the judiciary and the prosecution.
El-Rufai, dressed in a blue agbada and seated in the dock, watched the video of his own interview with rapt attention, occasionally raising his head, adjusting his agbada, and at certain points shaking his head as the recording played in open court.
Before the substantive proceedings resumed, the SSS lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, SAN, raised a complaint alleging that El-Rufai’s relatives had repeatedly used social media and press engagements to portray the prosecution and security agencies as persecuting the defendant.
Aladedoye cited a specific incident on May 15 where one of El-Rufai’s wives allegedly arrived at the ICPC’s facility with cameramen and began livestreaming, claiming her husband was being denied food and access to family members.
The senior lawyer further alleged that a popular politician published claims suggesting El-Rufai could be harmed in custody, which forced security operatives to move him to SSS custody to avoid further controversy.
According to the prosecution, the situation escalated when members of the defendant’s family including two wives and a son reportedly went to the SSS headquarters with journalists and publicly criticised the court’s bail conditions. Aladedoye argued that instead of pursuing their grievances through legal channels, the family resorted to media campaigns capable of undermining public confidence in the judiciary.
He urged the court to caution the defendant and his family against further public attacks, insisting that the matter was a criminal prosecution, not political persecution.
Responding, defence counsel E.E. Ekere said he was unaware of the allegations and submitted that El-Rufai should not be held responsible for comments made outside the courtroom. He however said the defence team would advise the former governor’s family members and sympathisers to exercise restraint.
Justice Abdulmalik swiftly disposed of the complaint, stating that she paid no attention to social media narratives. The judge directed that issues circulating online should remain outside courtroom proceedings and ordered the trial to continue.
The judge’s response effectively shut down the SSS’s attempt to bring the family’s public protests into the courtroom proceedings, treating the matter as irrelevant to the substantive trial.
With the preliminary issue resolved, the prosecution called its first witness codenamed “APC” for security reasons and shielded from public view during proceedings to continue testimony from where he stopped on Monday. The prosecution tendered a silver flash drive and a certificate of compliance through the witness, which were admitted as Exhibits B and B1 respectively.
Justice Abdulmalik then directed that the video recording of the interview granted by El-Rufai, saved on the flash drive, be played in open court.
The video showed El-Rufai speaking with Arise TV anchor Charles Aniagolu in a wide-ranging interview that touched on his confrontation with security agents at an airport, his relationship with President Tinubu, and most critically his claim that someone had intercepted a phone conversation involving the National Security Adviser.
In the video played before the court, El-Rufai narrated an encounter with DSS operatives at an airport, describing how a young officer approached him and asked him to accompany them to their office.
“I came out of the plane and a young man came to me and said, ‘I am DSS and they would want to meet with me in our office.’ I asked him for a letter of invitation, and he said their boss had it in the office. I said okay,” El-Rufai recounted in the video.
He described the situation escalating, with more officers surrounding him and insisting he follow them. “I told them that even the president cannot tell me what to do,” El-Rufai stated in the recording.
El-Rufai said approximately 50 DSS operatives attempted to arrest him, but supporters who had come to receive him at the airport refused to allow them to take him. The operatives later demanded to see his passport, but one of his aides collected it from him and the officers snatched it from the aide.
On the critical wiretapping allegation, El-Rufai said he knew NSA Ribadu had instructed the SSS to arrest him because someone had tapped Ribadu’s phone conversation and informed him.
When Aniagolu told him that phone tapping was wrong, El-Rufai responded directly: “We listened to their call, someone tapped the phone conversation and told us that he gave the order.”