A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a no-case submission filed by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and ordered him to enter his defence in the ongoing trial over the alleged unlawful interception of telephone communications involving National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling on Monday, held that the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence to warrant calling on El-Rufai to defend himself. The court subsequently adjourned the case until November 25, 2026, for the former governor to open his defence.
El-Rufai had filed the no-case submission after the Department of State Services (DSS), which is prosecuting the case, closed its case after presenting two witnesses.
Through his lawyers, the former governor argued that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him and asked the court to discharge and acquit him without requiring him to enter a defence.
The prosecution, however, opposed the application, arguing that the oral and documentary evidence presented before the court was sufficient to require El-Rufai to respond to the allegations.
According to the prosecution, one of the exhibits before the court contains statements attributed to El-Rufai concerning the alleged interception of Ribadu’s telephone communications.
The charges followed comments made by El-Rufai during a February 2026 interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time. During the interview, he said that someone had wiretapped Ribadu’s phone, allowing him to hear a conversation in which the NSA allegedly instructed security operatives to arrest him.
The DSS subsequently filed a five-count amended charge against the former governor over the alleged interception of telephone communications. El-Rufai pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution called two witnesses before closing its case. One was a DSS operative, while the other was lawyer and human rights activist Deji Adeyanju, who testified about the television interview and its contents.
With the dismissal of the no-case submission, the trial will now proceed to the defence stage. El-Rufai is expected to begin presenting his defence when the case resumes on November 25.
The court’s decision means only that the prosecution has presented enough evidence for the case to proceed; it does not amount to a determination that El-Rufai is guilty of the allegations against him.