Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the case against former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to April 23 for arraignment.
The DSS filed a three-count charge against him over the alleged unlawful interception of communications, following comments he made during a television interview.
The court had earlier fixed February 25 for the former governor’s arraignment.
The former governor was absent during Wednesday’s proceedings.
Counsel for the DSS, Oluwole Aladedoyin, informed the court that the former governor is still in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), where he is under investigation for alleged misappropriation of funds.
This prompted the judge to adjourn the case to April 23 for arraignment.
Last week, the Federal Government through the DSS filed a three-count charge against the former governor of Kaduna State over the alleged interception of communications belonging to Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
El-Rufai had claimed in an interview that he and other unnamed individuals listened to conversations from Ribadu’s phone after it was tapped by a third party. While acknowledging that such interception is technically unlawful, he argued that illegal surveillance was not unusual.
According to the charge sheet obtained by Channels Television on Monday, the government stated that El-Rufai admitted that he and his cohorts allegedly intercepted the NSA’s phone conversations.
The charge filed at the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division, lists the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the complainant and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai as the defendant.
