Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress-led federal government is using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidate and bully the opposition into joining the APC.
This was as he noted that the EFCC detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, because he is a member of the opposition Coalition.
Atiku, in a statement posted on his social media platforms on Tuesday, said the detention of Tambuwal and other opposition figures, “is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition.”
He said the reality unfolding today is that the Tinubu administration, as with other aspects, had 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 Tinubu, their ‘sins’ are forgiven,” Atiku stated.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election said the path being toed by the present administration was 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,” he added.
Atiku, a leader in the newly formed coalition, said Nigerians had witnessed the use of anti-corruption agencies in coercing political leaders into the ruling party, adding that “Our assurance to Nigerians is that we would never succumb to this anti-democratic machinations of railroading our people into a one-party dictatorship.”
