Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to pressure opposition leaders into joining the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Monday, the EFCC detained former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal over all€ged financial misconduct. It also invited former Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha over corruption allegations during his short tenure.
Atiku said Tambuwal’s detention was because he is part of the coalition planning to challenge Tinubu in the 2027 elections. He claimed the EFCC is now a political tool.
In his statement, Atiku wrote:
“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. It is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harrass, intimidate, and decim♤te the opposition.
The reality unfolding before us today is that the Tinubu administration, as with other aspects, has objectified the f¿ght 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 Tinubu, 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.”
Atiku, however, warned that opposition leaders would resist any anti-democratic moves to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.
