Ribadu: Tapping phone calls serious offence, says Lawyer, Olajengbesi

2026-02-15 - 14:59

Abuja-based lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, says tapping deliberate interception, or recording of private telephone calls, is a serious criminal offence under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015. In a statement on Sunday, Olajengbesi said the relevant security agencies must investigate the recent admission by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El‐Rufai, that he listened to an intercepted phone conversation involving Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser (NSA), who he claimed directed security operatives to arrest him at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday. Though the arrest was botched, El-Rufai, in a television interview, subsequently claimed that he listened to a tapped phone call involving the NSA and that he gave the order for his arrest. Reacting, Olajengbesi said, “Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai’s public admission that he procured the tapping and recording of the telephone conversations of the National Security Adviser (NSA) is not a matter of political drama or public banter; it is, in substance, an allegation of a grave criminal enterprise which strikes directly at the heart of Nigeria’s national security architecture and the integrity of the Nigerian State. “In law, the deliberate interception, tapping, or recording of private telephone communications without lawful authority is a serious criminal offence under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, particularly Section 8, which criminalises unlawful interception of electronic communications. “What makes this act particularly alarming is the identity of the victim: the National Security Adviser, a principal custodian of sensitive intelligence and national defence communications. Any unauthorised tapping of the NSA’s communication is not merely an offence against an individual; it is an offence against the sovereignty and security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, raising the spectre of espionage, sabotage, and unlawful intelligence gathering, acts that demand urgent investigation and decisive prosecution under the law.” Vanguard News