…Vows to resist railroading Nigeria into one party dictatorship
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, said that the only reason the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is because he is a member of the opposition Coalition.
Atiku specifically said that Tambuwal’s detention is a continuation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agenda to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition, stressing that the EFCC was not established as a tool to fight opposition, but corruption.
He warned that the coalition will never succumb to anti-democratic machinations of railroading Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship.
These were contained in a statement personally signed by Atiku, in which he said that 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.
In the words of Atiku; “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.
“We have in recent times witnessed the use of anti-corruption agencies in coercing political leaders into the ruling party,” he noted.
The former Vice President however, assured Nigerians that members of the Coalition would never succumb to the anti-democratic machinations of railroading the people into a one-party dictatorship.
