Why FG Taps Phone Calls Of Nigerians – Tinubu’s Aide

Why FG Taps Phone Calls Of Nigerians – Tinubu’s Aide

The Federal Government can legally monitor phone conversations of Nigerians for national security reasons, President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has said.

Ajayi said this while responding to a Facebook comment on his post condemning former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for admitting that an unnamed person illegally tapped the phone of the 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 that “He (El-Rufai) accused government of doing same illegality.”

In his response, Ajayi said the “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.”

El-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 said on the programme, “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 noted that tapping the NSA’s phone call was illegal, El-Rufai responded: “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.”

The former governor was involved in a heated verbal exchange with security operatives at the Abuja airport shortly after his arrival in the country on Wednesday.

Security officials briefly restrained him and reportedly confiscated his international passport before he was escorted out of the airport amid chants from supporters who had gathered to receive him.

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