Court grants El-Rufai N100m bail in ‘phone interception’ case

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja has granted N100m bail to Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, in the case pertaining to alleged unauthorised access to a telephone conversation involving Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA).

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Among the bail conditions include a surety who must reside in either the Maitama or Asokoro districts of Abuja and must deposit the original Certificate of Occupancy of a landed property at the court registry.

The court also held that the surety must also be a Federal civil servant not below Grade Level 17 and must provide evidence of salary payments for at least three months, authenticated by a letter from the manager of a bank within the jurisdiction of the court.

The court further ordered the surety to depose to an affidavit of means, enter into a bail bond, and submit a recent passport photograph to the court registry.

As part of the bail conditions, El-Rufai is to deposit all valid international passports with the court registry.

The court also directed that a verification letter from the surety’s immediate department be submitted, alongside a tax clearance certificate covering the last six months.

Justice Abdulmalik further ordered El-Rufai to report to the headquarters of the Department of State Services every last Friday of the month by 10 a.m. to sign an attendance register pending the determination of the case.

The judge warned that failure to comply with the conditions would lead to an automatic revocation of the bail.

The court additionally directed the defendant to submit a letter of attestation from the Chairman of the Kaduna Traditional Council.