Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Federal Government of turning Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign into a partisan hit job, warning that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is rapidly losing public trust.
In a statement issued Thursday and made available to The News Chronicle from his media office, Atiku condemned the arrest and detention of former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), saying the EFCC has veered dangerously off its founding ideals and is now “weaponising its mandate” to settle political scores.
“The politicisation of corruption investigations has made the EFCC’s credibility suspect and rubbished the ideals that inspired its creation,” he said.
Atiku described the recent focus on opposition figures such as Malami and former Sokoto governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as evidence that the agency has become an “overzealous appendage of the APC,” allegedly working to intimidate rivals and pave the way for a one-party state.
He expressed alarm that the EFCC suddenly “became hyperactive” after the African Democratic Congress (ADC) emerged as a viable opposition force, while corruption cases involving loyalists of the ruling party remain untouched.
The former Vice President recalled how ex-governors with longstanding corruption allegations were rewarded with ministerial and ambassadorial appointments under President Bola Tinubu, with no objection from the EFCC.
“We expected the EFCC to protest the appointment of former governors with unresolved corruption cases. But partisan loyalty prevailed over integrity,” he said, adding that Malami would have been spared if he had defected to the APC “even if he looted the entire CBN vault.”
Atiku further alleged that the EFCC now operates like a “political rottweiler,” deployed to coerce politicians into joining the ruling party, after which their corruption cases “mysteriously disappear.”
He warned that no serious country fights corruption by sacrificing the independence of its anti-graft institutions for partisan gain, urging EFCC leadership to urgently reclaim its autonomy.
“The stakes are too high for the EFCC to barter its integrity for the fleeting interests of any political party,” he cautioned.
