James Adamu, Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has issued a scathing rebuke of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), condemning the continued detention of former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as evidence that Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight has devolved into a “political witch-hunt.”
In a statement from his media office in Abuja on Thursday, Atiku warned that the anti-graft agency is dangerously straying from its mandate and operating as a weapon for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to target and intimidate political opposition.
“The politicisation of corruption investigations has rendered the EFCC’s credibility suspect and rubbished the very ideals that inspired its establishment,” Atiku stated.
He expressed shock at the agency’s “hyperactive” focus on opposition figures like Malami and former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal following the rise of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), while allegedly ignoring glaring cases involving allies of the ruling party.
Atiku pointedly accused the EFCC of selective justice, noting that former governors with longstanding corruption cases have been rewarded with ministerial and ambassadorial appointments by President Bola Tinubu without objection from the commission. “We expected the EFCC to voice its objection… But partisan loyalty prevailed over integrity,” he said.
The former Vice President framed Malami’s detention as a symptomatic abuse of power. “Nigerians are watching in disbelief as an agency created to fight corruption willingly turns itself into a lapdog of the ruling APC—used to hound and destabilise credible opposition, while shielding political loyalists from accountability,” Atiku asserted.
He suggested that the EFCC is being deployed as a “political rottweiler” to coerce politicians into joining the APC, after which “their corruption cases mysteriously vanish.”
Atiku concluded with a direct warning to the EFCC leadership, urging it to urgently detach itself from political manipulation and reclaim its independence before permanently losing the trust of the Nigerian people. “The stakes are too high for the agency to barter its integrity for the fleeting interests of any political party,” he stressed.
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