As the court trial on corruption charges against the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, continued, a witness has alleged that $500,000 and another $100,000 were set aside to bribe the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials and an intermediary to stop investigations into some companies.

The case, presided over by Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court, lasted about nine hours before it was adjourned until November 30 and December 1, 2026, on Tuesday.

The former governor was grilled in the witness box and remained there throughout the proceedings until the court adjourned.

The witness, Segun Kayode, a senior operative of the Department of State Services (DSS) and digital forensics examiner, made the allegation of financial inducement on Tuesday while testifying before the Kaduna State High Court presided over by Justice Khobo.

Kayode told the court that his team conducted forensic analysis of telephone call records and audio recordings obtained during investigations following a formal request from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

He said the investigation involved selected telephone numbers belonging to El-Rufai and some of his suspected associates, including Jimi Lawal, AU Mustafa, Ahmadu Sule, Sam Darwish and others.

According to the witness, following approval by the Director-General of the DSS, the Director of Counter-Terrorism directed his team to carry out the analysis.

He said he requested call data records from the department’s telecommunications intelligence unit and received the information through a secure server in line with standard operating procedures for preserving electronic evidence.

Kayode said he used IT tools to establish relationships between El-Rufai and the other individuals, while Microsoft Excel worksheets were used to analyze the frequency of communications between them.

He told the court that the analysis revealed repeated communications involving El-Rufai, his senior brother, Bashir El-Rufai, and Sam Darwish between October 25 and 28, 2025.

The findings, he said, prompted further examination of audio recordings obtained from the department’s communication intelligence unit.

The witness stressed further that he immediately created an image of the original audio recording and produced four duplicate copies, while keeping the original secured to preserve the integrity of the evidence.

He added that a Hausa-language expert on his team, identified as Aliyu Mainasara, was engaged to transcribe the recording and translate it into English.

Kayode said the audio was also subjected to forensic examination using industry-standard tools to assess its acoustic characteristics and determine whether it was consistent with a human recording or artificially generated audio.

According to him, the analysis detected vocal frequency characteristics.