Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the detention of former Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 presidential candidate and a key promoter of the ADC opposition coalition, described the detention as a strategy by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to intimidate and weaken the opposition ahead of the 2027 elections.
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The former presidential candidate said this in a statement posted on his official X account on Tuesday.
He also alleged that Mr Tambuwal’s detention by the commission was politically motivated primarily because he is a member of the coalition.
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“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,” he said.
Mr Tambuwal, who currently represents Sokoto South Senatorial District at the Senate, was taken into custody at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
The anti-graft agency accuses him of alleged fraudulent cash withdrawals to the tune of N189 billion which violates the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the EFCC began investigating the transactions on the suspicion that they were conducted in violation of banking procedures.
Mr Tambuwal, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives and two-term governor of Sokoto State, remains in EFCC custody as investigations continue. He is one of the key opposition leaders promoting the ADC coalition. Although, the commission has yet to issue a statement on the detention.
Corruption fight now a political weapon
Atiku accused President Tinubu’s administration of weaponising anti-corruption agencies to coerce opposition leaders into defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“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,” he added.
Atiku noted that the EFCC, established during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo,, in which he served as vice president, was never intended to be used to target political opponents.
“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.”
Pattern of alleged coercion
Atiku also alleged that the EFCC has, in recent years, been instrumental in pressuring opposition governors to defect to the ruling APC.
“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 assured that the opposition coalition would resist the alleged anti-democratic machinations aimed at railroading Nigeria into a one-party state.
“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,” the former vice president said.
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