Tambuwal’s detention: Tinubu is harassing, intimidating opposition — Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of using the detention of former Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as part of an agenda to harass, intimidate, and weaken the opposition.

Tribune Online reports that the EFCC recently detained Tambuwal over alleged fraudulent cash withdrawals amounting to N189 billion.

Reacting to the development in a statement on Tuesday, Atiku alleged that the action against Tambuwal was politically motivated and aimed at coercing opposition figures into joining the ruling party. 

He maintained that the fight against corruption had been turned into a political weapon, targeting those aligned with the opposition while overlooking alleged offences once they defect to the government’s side.

Atiku, who recalled his role in establishing the EFCC during his time in government, argued that the agency was never intended to serve partisan purposes. 

He warned that the current approach undermines institutional integrity, fuels corruption, and threatens democratic values by creating conditions that could lead to a one-party state.

He further claimed that there has been a pattern of using anti-corruption agencies to pressure state governors and political leaders into defecting, noting that such actions have been ongoing and show no signs of abating. 

Atiku urged Nigerians, civil society, and the international community to condemn what he described as an anti-democratic trend designed to consolidate political power at the expense of genuine governance and accountability.

He said, “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 decimate the opposition.

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“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 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.

“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. -AA”

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