The presidency has criticised the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, over a controversial remark made on national television.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President, Bola Tinubu, on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, in a post on on Friday, said that El-Rufai admitted that someone tapped the NSA’s phone so he could listen to his conversation.

According to Tinubu’s aide, El-Rufai, during the interview on ARISE Television, agreed that his action was illegal.

Temitope stressed that El-Rufai will call Tinubu a tyrant and claim that he is being persecuted if arrested to produce the person who tapped the NSA’s phone.

He wrote, “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.”

In other news, former Vice President of Nigeria and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has disclosed that El-Rufai remains in good spirits after the failed attempt by security operatives to arrest him at the airport on Thursday.

Atiku, in a statement via his Facebook account on Friday, confirmed that he visited the former Kaduna State Governor, and he was unfazed by the incident.

He added that El-Rufai, who is also a chieftain of the ADC, remains committed to the ideals of building a better Nigeria.