President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has argued that the Federal government is allowed to monitor Nigerians’ phone conversations for national security reasons.
Ajayi made the statement in response to a Facebook comment on his post criticizing a former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai for admitting that someone illegally tapped the phone of National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
“El-Rufai admitted on a national television that someone tapped the phone of the NSA for him to listen to his conversation. When Charles Aniagolu, the interviewer, interjected that that was an illegal action, El-Rufai agreed to the illegality. By the time he is picked up to produce the person who illegally tapped the NSA’s phone, he would say President Tinubu is a ‘tyrant’ and persecuting him,” Ajayi had posted on Facebook.
A Facebook user, Asiwaju Bode Gbadebo, commented on the post, saying: “He (El-Rufai) accused government of doing same illegality.”
In response, Ajayi said: “Government can legitimately listen to your conversation for national security reasons. Only govt is allowed to do what is illegal for citizens to do to protect and preserve the collective. You can’t carry gun but govt can carry gun and the firearm arm that is allowed for citizens under the law must be licensed by govt.”
Rufai had appeared on Arise TV’s Prime Time programme on Friday to speak on an attempt by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) to arrest him on alleged orders of Ribadu.
The former governor, on the programme, said: “Ribadu made the call because we listened to their calls. The government thinks that they’re the only ones that listen to calls. But we also have our ways. He made the call. He gave the order that they should arrest me.”
When the interviewer pointed out that tapping the NSA’s phone was illegal, El-Rufai replied: “I know, but the government does it all the time. They listen to our calls all the time without a court order. But someone tapped his phone and told us that he gave the order.”
Shortly after arriving in the country on Wednesday, the former governor got into a heated argument with security officers at the Abuja airport.
Security officials briefly held him and reportedly took his international passport before escorting him out of the airport, while supporters who had come to welcome him chanted nearby.
El-Rufai also claimed that Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) were involved in a plot to abduct him.
During the interview, he said: “Let me tell you, Kaduna Governor Uba Sani, the NSA and the ICPC chairman have arranged that I get abducted unfailingly today.”
El-Rufai, who was a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) until March 2025, has repeatedly criticized the Tinubu administration since the Senate rejected his ministerial nomination.