Nasir El-Rufai's Bail Variation Application Denied in Phone Tapping Case

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Nasir El-Rufai, former Kaduna State Governor, has had his bail variation application dismissed by the Federal High Court in Abuja in a phone tapping case. El-Rufai is facing five charges after he claimed to have listened to a telephone conversation involving the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

El-Rufai was granted bail on 18 May in the sum of N100 million with one surety. One of the conditions of his bail was that the surety must be a federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17 and must provide evidence of salary payments for at least three months, authenticated by a letter from the manager of the bank within the jurisdiction of the court.

The prosecution did not oppose El-Rufai's bail application. However, his lawyer, Paul Erokoro, told the court that four of the bail conditions had not been met. He said one of the unmet conditions was the Grade 17 officer surety in the federal service and requirement to own property in Maitama or Asokoro.

The court held that the initial conditions attached to El-Rufai's bail were “intended to ensure his attendance at trial” and found no merit in the request to alter them. Mr Erokoro urged the court to “liberalise the bail conditions” and pointed out that the prosecution had filed a counter-affidavit but did not oppose bail initially. He asked, “So if they did not do that then, they cannot now insist that the bail must be on stringent conditions.”

Responding, the prosecution lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, also SAN, said in opposition to the application that the prosecution filed a counter-affidavit on 4 June. He stated that El-Rufai had served as minister and governor and should not have difficulty meeting the conditions.

The Supreme Court decision cited by Mr Erokoro was contested by the prosecution lawyer who cited a different authority and said no two cases were the same. He urged the court to dismiss the application and described the defence conduct as “unworthy.”

In his ruling, the judge noted that El-Rufai's legal team did not substantiate claims that properties in Asokoro and Maitama in Abuja were valued between N3 billion and N20 billion, far above the N100 million bail bond the judge imposed.