Phone-tapping charge: Court grants el-Rufai N100m bail, allegedly re-arrested by DSS

—He has been moved to ICPC – Security sources

—Court order not licence for unrestricted access — ICPC lEl-Rufai’s ordeal political persecution, not prosecution — ADC

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Omeiza Ajayi & Luminous Jannamike

ABUJA— The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday granted N100 million bail to the detained immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who is facing trial over the alleged unlawful interception of the phone communications of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

But his family raised the alarm that the Department of State Services, DSS, allegedly took him into custody. 

This is as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, pushed back against allegations that it violated the rights of the former governor, insisting that court-ordered access to him did not override the agency’s internal security rules.

However, African Democratic Congress, ADC, in its immediate reaction, accused the Federal Government of turning El-Rufai into a political prisoner, describing his ordeal as “political persecution dressed up as prosecution.”

As part of the bail conditions, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ordered the defendant to produce a surety who must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17.

According to the court, the surety must not only be resident in either Maitama or Asokoro highbrow districts of Abuja, but must also deposit the original Certificate of Occupancy of a landed property not valued below the bail sum. 

It held that the surety must also provide evidence of receipt of salary for at least three months, with an authenticated letter from the manager of a bank within the jurisdiction of the court.

Furthermore, the court directed the surety to depose to an affidavit of means and equally submit a recent passport photograph to its registry.

It added that a verification letter from the surety’s immediate department must be submitted alongside a tax clearance certificate covering the last six months.

The defendant was further mandated to surrender his valid international passports and directed not to travel out of the country without permission.

Justice Abdulmalik ordered the defendant to report to the headquarters of the Department of State Services, DSS, every last Friday of the month by 10 a.m. to sign an attendance register, pending the determination of the case.

The trial judge warned that failure to comply with any of the conditions would lead to an automatic revocation of the bail.

Besides, the former governor was directed to submit a letter of attestation from the Chairman of the Kaduna Traditional Council, even as it ordered accelerated hearing of the case. 

El-Rufai allegedly re-arrested by DSS, family raises alarm

According to the family, the action is in apparent breach of existing court orders directing that he remains in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC.

El-Rufai’s second wife, Hasiat, who addressed journalists outside the DSS facility, said the family was traumatised by the development and lived daily under the shadow of threats and surveillance.

“We now live in constant fear. Every day we get a threat — DSS is coming to raid your house, ICPC is coming to raid your house, police are coming to raid your house. You are being followed. Our phones are tapped,” she said.

She narrated that earlier in the day, el-Rufai had appeared before Justice Joyce AbdulMalik of the Federal High Court, who granted him bail and stood the matter down until 1pm.

During the break, she said, he was briefly taken to the DSS facility, a move he resisted, insisting that two subsisting court orders from a Kaduna court directed that he be remanded with the ICPC.

“He said to them, I am not going to step down because there are two court orders that the Kaduna court gave that I should be remanded in ICPC. Why are you bringing me here? He said, I am not a furniture to be moved,” she recounted.

She said he was subsequently returned to the ICPC, but that after the afternoon session, during which the prosecution sought an adjournment and the judge fixed a resumption for the following day, he was again brought to the DSS instead of being returned to ICPC custody.

As of the time she spoke, she said el-Rufai had refused to step out of the vehicle.

Court order not licence for unrestricted access — ICPC

However, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, yesterday pushed back against allegations that it violated the rights of  the former Kaduna State governor.

The anti-graft agency dismissed claims that el-Rufai was denied food, blocked from seeing medical personnel or subjected to degrading treatment in custody, saying its officers enforced the same access rules applicable to all detainees.

Speaking at a media briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, ICPC spokesman, Mr John Okor Odey, said the agency’s access control policy had been in place long before the current chairman assumed office, adding that the policy applied equally to everyone in custody, regardless of status.

“The court said access should be granted, but not outside our regulations. The court did not say anybody can walk in here claiming they want to see Mallam Nasir el-Rufai,” Odey said.

The controversy followed the circulation of a Hausa-language video on Friday night in which a woman identifying herself as one of el-Rufai’s wives alleged that ICPC operatives stopped her from entering the facility around 7pm to deliver food to her husband.

But the commission said its visitor access closes at 6:30pm and noted that the woman herself admitted arriving after the approved time.

According to the ICPC, visitor records showed that one of el-Rufai’s wives and a housemaid visited the facility at least three times between 10:30am and 5:30pm that same day to deliver meals to him.

El-Rufai’s ordeal political persecution, not prosecution — ADC

Meanwhile, African Democratic Congress, ADC, has accused the federal government of turning El-Rufai into a political prisoner, describing his ordeal as “political persecution dressed up as prosecution.”

The opposition party said reports that El-Rufai was denied access to his doctors, prevented from receiving food from his wife and kept in custody, despite being granted bail, had raised fresh concerns about his health and treatment in detention.

The position was contained in a statement signed by the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.

The party said:  “What is happening to Mallam El-Rufai confirms beyond all doubt that this detention is no longer about justice, it is about politics.

“It also confirms our fears that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deploying the instruments of state power to keep one of the leading opposition figures out of circulation. This is political persecution dressed up as prosecution.”

ADC also drew comparisons between El-Rufai’s case and those involving former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, and former Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, both facing separate corruption allegations.

Abdullahi said:  “When placed beside other high-profile cases, the contrast becomes stark and shameful.  Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi State has been accused in an alleged N80.2 billion money laundering case. 

‘’Ifeanyi Okowa, former governor of Delta State, was arrested over the alleged diversion of N1.3 trillion in derivation funds. But today, they are walking around free, singing President Tinubu’s campaign song.”

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