The organization tagged ‘Village Boys Movement’ was launched as a rival platform to counter the ‘City Boys Movement’ organized by President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, for the President’s re-election.
Convener of the Village Boys Movement, Maazị Tochukwu Ezeoke, who addressed supporters in Abuja on Thursday, named himself a ‘Village Headmaster’.
According to him, the movement “represents a Nigeria that works before it earns and earns before it spends”.
He, however, clarified that the initiative was “not hostility toward cities”, stating that it is rather a “moral contrast”.
The issue is not geography but the source of wealth, the ethics of leadership, and the structure of accountability,” he added.
The former governor will be arraigned before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
DAILY POST reports that on February 18, the DSS briefly took El-Rufai into custody after he spent two nights with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
El-Rufai had said that someone wiretapped the phone of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, allowing him to listen to the NSA directing security operatives to effect his arrest.
The DSS had on Monday filed a three-count charge against El-Rufai for allegedly intercepting the NSA’s telephone conversation.
In count one, El Rufai was alleged to have, on February 13, while appearing as a guest on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme in Abuja, admitted that he and his cohorts unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of the NSA, Ribadu.
The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 12(1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024.
In count two, the ex-governor was alleged to have, on February 13, while appearing as a guest on Arise Television, stated that he knew and related with certain individual, who unlawfully intercepted the phone communications of NSA, without reporting the said individual to relevant security agencies.
The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 27 (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024.
Count three alleged that El Rufai and others still at large, sometime in 2026, in Abuja, did use technical equipment or systems which compromised public safety, national security and instilled reasonable apprehension of insecurity among Nigerians, to unlawfully intercept the NSA’s phone communications.
The DSS said the alleged offence contravened the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment, Act, 2024 and the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.
Recall that El-Rufai has been in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, over alleged corruption during his stint as Kaduna governor.
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