Nigeria’s federal high court sitting in Abuja on Monday dismissed a no-case submission filed by former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, in his ongoing trial over the alleged unlawful interception of the National Security Adviser’s (NSA) telephone communications.
El-Rufai was docked by Nigeria’s Department of State Security (DSS) in a five-count amended charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/99/2026, on behalf of the federal government.
The former governor, however, denied all the allegations levelled against him by the federal government when the charges were read out to him in court.
However, the trial judge, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling on the no-case submission, held that the Department of State Services (DSS) had placed before the court sufficient evidence to warrant the court calling on the former governor to enter his defence if he so desires.
The judge, therefore, ordered El-Rufai, the sole defendant in the charge, to enter his defence.
El-Rufai had opted for a no-case submission after the DSS closed its case by calling two witnesses.
The former governor, through his counsel, Akinyemi Aremu, urged the court to hold that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring him to enter a defence.
In response, the DSS lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, SAN, adopted their counter-affidavit in opposition to the no-case submission.
Aladedoye argued that the defence failed to address Exhibit “B”, which the prosecution said contained El-Rufai’s alleged admission concerning the tapping of Ribadu’s phone.
He submitted that since the prosecution had established a prima facie case against El-Rufai, the defendant was required by law to enter his defence.