Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has asked President Bola Tinubu to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to free former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai if he truly has the power to give operational orders to anti-corruption agencies.
In a statement released on Thursday in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said Tinubu’s directive for the EFCC to withdraw what he described as a court order freezing the Osun State Government’s account had weakened claims that anti-corruption agencies operate independently.
“President Tinubu’s statement has raised more questions than it has answered. While the EFCC’s official statement painstakingly explained why it froze the Osun State Government’s account, it made no mention whatsoever of obtaining a court order. Yet the President’s intervention is predicated entirely on the existence of such a court order, which he claims to have directed the EFCC to vacate.
“If indeed there was a court order, why did the EFCC omit such a fundamental fact from its official account? If there was none, then the President has introduced into the public discourse a legal process that exists nowhere in the EFCC’s own narrative. Nigerians deserve a coherent explanation instead of conflicting versions from the same government.”
Atiku argued that Tinubu’s action contradicted claims that the EFCC operates without presidential interference. He said if the President can direct the EFCC, he should also be able to act in El-Rufai’s case.
He added that the issue goes beyond Osun or El-Rufai, saying it affects the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies and the rule of law. Atiku also questioned who approved the freezing of Osun’s account before the governorship election and why it happened at such a sensitive time.
