Tinubu’s administration has objectified fight against corruption as a political tool – Atiku reacts to Tambuwal’s EFCC detention

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of using Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as a political weapon to target opposition figures.

In a statement on Tuesday, August 12, Atiku alleged that the EFCC’s detention of former Sokoto State Governor and current Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal was politically motivated, claiming it was solely because Tambuwal is a member of the opposition coalition.

He described the action as part of a broader agenda by the Tinubu-led government to “harass, intimidate and decimate” opposition leaders, warning that such tactics undermine democratic institutions and the fight against corruption.

“The reality unfolding before us is that the Tinubu administration has turned the fight against corruption into a political tool to coerce opposition leaders into joining the ruling party,” Atiku said, adding that this approach encourages corruption rather than curbing it.

He accused the EFCC of being used to pressure opposition governors into defecting to the ruling party, insisting that those who switch allegiance have their alleged offences overlooked.

Atiku, who played a key role in establishing the EFCC during his tenure in government, said the agency’s current operations contradict its founding purpose. He called on Nigerians, civil society groups, and the international community to condemn what he termed the “objectification” of anti-corruption efforts for political gain.

Pledging resistance to what he described as an attempt to impose a one-party state, Atiku maintained that the opposition would not bow to “anti-democratic machinations” designed to silence dissent.

He tweeted:

“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. -AA”

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