The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to enter his defence in the ongoing trial over alleged unlawful interception of the telephone communications of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling, dismissed El-Rufai’s no-case submission on the ground that the Department of State Services, DSS, had placed before the court sufficient evidence to warrant the court to call on him to enter his defence if he so desires.
The judge, therefore, ordered El-Rufai, the sole defendant in the charge, to enter his defence and adjourned the matter until November 25 for the ex-governor to open his defence.
El-Rufai had opted for a no-case submission after the DSS closed its case.
El-Rufai, through his counsel, Akinyemi Aremu, had urged the court to hold that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring the former governor 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.
The DSS had called two witnesses – an operative of the service and a legal practitioner, Deji Adeyanju – to establish their case against El-Rufai.
Adeyanju, who testified as a subpoenaed witness, had told the court that the ex-governor allegedly admitted on a national television interview that he wiretapped the phone lines belonging to the NSA.
Source: NAN
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