Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has accused the President Bola Tinubu-led administration of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a political weapon to target opposition figures.
Reacting to the detention of former Sokoto State Governor and Senator, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Atiku claimed the move was part of a broader agenda to “harass, intimidate, and decimate” members of the opposition coalition.
“The only reason the EFCC has detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is because he is a member of the opposition Coalition,” Atiku said in a statement. “It is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to intimidate the opposition.”
The former Vice President, who was instrumental in the establishment of the EFCC during his time in office, alleged that the agency’s anti-corruption drive had been “objectified” as a political tool to coerce opponents into joining the ruling party.
“Today, anyone who associates with the opposition is a target for phantom corruption allegations. As soon as they are coerced into the political agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, their ‘sins’ are forgiven,” he said.
Atiku warned that such practices were eroding institutional integrity and creating fertile ground for corruption to flourish. He pointed to a “growing trend” where anti-corruption bodies were allegedly being deployed to force opposition governors and political leaders into the ruling party.
While calling for a united front in the fight against genuine corruption, Atiku urged civil society, Nigerians, and the international community to condemn what he described as “anti-democratic machinations” aimed at railroading the country into a one-party state.
“We will never succumb to these tactics. The use of anti-corruption agencies as a political agenda must be roundly condemned,” he added.
The statement on X reads, “The only reason the @officialEFCC has detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, @AWTambuwal, is because he is a member of the opposition Coalition. It is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harrass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition.
“The reality unfolding before us today is that the Tinubu administration, as with other aspects, has objectified the fight against corruption as a political tool to coerce opposition leaders into the ruling party. We are living witnesses to a growing trend where the state and its operators have assumed the roles of a bully by making corruption and the fight against it a political agenda. Certainly, that is not the objective for which I worked hard during our administration to create the EFCC.
“It is as though today, anyone who associates with the opposition is a target for phantom corruption allegations and, it is as though, as soon as they are coerced into the political agenda of President @officialABAT, their ‘sins’ are forgiven. That, definitely, is not how to build institutions. That, certainly, is not how to fight the monster of corruption. Indeed, such tendencies provide the stimulant for corruption to thrive. We have seen how the EFCC has been used to empty opposition state governors into the ruling party, and the tea party is not about to end anytime soon.
“While the genuine fight against corruption is a matter that requires the total support of all Nigerians, the objectification of it as a political agenda should be roundly condemned by all in civil society spaces and friends of Nigeria in the international community. We have in recent times witnessed the use of anti-corruption agencies in coercing political leaders into the ruling party. Our assurance to Nigerians is that we would never succumb to this anti-democratic machinations of railroading our people into a one-party dictatorship.”
VANGUARD
