Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has called for a full investigation into claims of wire-tapping made by Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State in north-western Nigeria.
Onanuga made the call in a post on X on Friday, February 13, 2026, reacting to comments El-Rufai made during an interview on Arise Television Prime Time.
In the interview, El-Rufai alleged that Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, ordered his arrest after what he described as a failed attempt to detain him at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, on Thursday, February 12, 2026.
El-Rufai also claimed that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, an anti-corruption agency in Nigeria, used the Department of State Services, the country’s domestic intelligence agency, 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.
He went further to suggest that Ribadu had direct control over the operation, saying: “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 asked how he knew Ribadu authorised the action, El-Rufai replied: “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.”
Onanuga said El-Rufai’s remarks raised serious legal concerns. He argued that the former governor’s statement sounded like an admission of illegal wire-tapping and should attract the attention of law enforcement agencies.
“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, Deji Adeyanju, a Nigerian human rights lawyer and activist, described the reported attempt to arrest El-Rufai as “karma” catching up him. However, Adeyanju said he was not convinced there was any concrete plan to arrest the former governor.
Adeyanju noted that Nigeria’s laws provide for arrest either through a warrant issued by a court or based on probable cause under existing legal provisions. He maintained that if authorities had truly intended to detain El-Rufai, there were established legal processes available to do so.