Fresh controversy erupted at the weekend after presidential aide Bayo Onanuga called for an investigation into former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai over alleged wire-tapping comments made during a televised interview.

Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reacted to El-Rufai’s remarks on ARISE TV Prime Time, where the former governor alleged that the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, ordered his arrest following what he described as a failed attempt to detain him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

El-Rufai claimed that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission procured the Department of State Services to carry out the operation.

“We found out that it was the ICPC that procured the DSS to abduct me and then hand me over to them,” El-Rufai said.

“And this is a modus operandi of the ICPC that increasingly has become a personal tool of Nuhu Ribadu. Nuhu made the call and made the order that I must be in custody yesterday.”

When pressed on how he knew Ribadu authorised the move, El-Rufai responded: “He made the call because we listened to their calls. The government thinks that they are the only ones that listen to calls. But we also have our ways.”

Reacting in a post on X, Onanuga described the statement as a direct admission of illegal wire-tapping and said law enforcement agencies must take notice.

“El-Rufai confesses to wire-tapping Nigeria’s NSA on TV,” Onanuga wrote.

“Does it mean that he and his collaborators have wire-tapping facilities? This should be thoroughly investigated and punishment meted out. El-Rufai is not too big to face the wrath of the law.”

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer and activist Deji Adeyanju described the alleged attempt to arrest El-Rufai as “karma,” though he expressed doubt over claims that there was a concrete plan to detain the former governor.

Adeyanju noted that Nigeria’s legal framework allows arrests either through a court-issued warrant or on the basis of probable cause as provided under existing laws.

He argued that if authorities truly intended to arrest El-Rufai, established legal procedures would have been followed.

The unfolding dispute adds another layer to the growing political tensions surrounding the former governor’s recent public statements.

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