Opposition leaders allege persecution of members

Opposition leaders have accused the Federal Government of persecuting members of their parties, using the instrumentality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In a joint statement signed by Senator David Mark, Atiku Abubakar, Mallam Lawal Batagawara, Chief Bode George, Mr Peter Obi and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the leaders called for an amendment to the Act establishing the EFCC. The opposition leaders, who cut across party lines, said there is a growing politicisation of state institutions for the persecution of the opposition.

They said that they were compelled by duty and conscience to issue the statement to “alert Nigerians and the international community to the unfortunate and gradual slide of the country into a state where key national institutions, like the EFCC, the Police, and The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) are perceived as tools of political intimidation and systematic persecution of opposition leaders.”

The opposition figures, relying on the Supreme Court ruling on the powers of the EFCC over all public accounts, said that for the true prevention of financial crimes, “anti-graft operatives should be embedded in all the payment processes of governments at all levels to ensure compliance with rules of transparency, accountability and probity in public financial transactions.

“The EFCC must recognise and exercise its function as covering both pre- and post-expenditure. Operatives must also be held accountable for any unreported but later detected economic and financial infractions in their respective areas of oversight. To further strengthen the EFCC, we propose that the EFCC Act should be amended for this purpose.”

They also called for the establishment of an independent review body, which should be granted full access to the public accounts of the federal, state and local governments from 2015 to 2025, with a mandate to conduct a transparent, comprehensive review of financial transactions and publish its findings.

“Such a review will expose the EFCC’s pattern of selective prosecution of opposition figures and reveal that many current officials of the federal government and those of ruling-party-controlled states should have long been prosecuted for economic and financial crimes, but were shielded due to their political affiliation.

“Based on its findings, the independent body should also propose amendments to EFCC’s enabling law to strengthen the agency for more effective and efficient prevention of financial crimes.

“This proposed body is to be chaired by an eminent judge, and composed of representatives from civil society organisations, Nigerian Bar Association, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Institute of Chartered Bankers, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, anti-graft agencies, police, DSS, armed forces and all political parties with a seat in the National Assembly,” the opposition leaders said.

The leaders said that there are mounting concerns that state power is being deployed not for the prevention of economic crimes, “but for the persecution of perceived political adversaries, with the ultimate aim of weakening opposition voices and dismantling Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.”

They said Nigerians had witnessed “a covert, undemocratic agenda: to ensure that all state governments fall under the control of the President’s party – not through transparent electoral contests, but by secretly intimidating opposition governors via the anti-corruption apparatus until they succumb and defect.”

The opposition leaders alluded to the recent defections of opposition governors into the ruling party to reinforce their suspicion, adding that political pressure, not ideological or personal persuasion, is driving this realignment.

“This pattern forms part of a broader project that targets not only elected leaders but also key opposition figures perceived as architects of emerging coalitions ahead of the 2027 general election.

“We must warn that this project, if allowed to continue unchecked, poses a grave danger to Nigeria’s democratic future,” they said.

According to them, there is a growing pattern of persecution of the opposition by the EFCC with the sole objective of weakening it for the benefit of the ruling APC.

This disturbing pattern, they said, mirrors a long-standing sentiment openly expressed years ago by a former National Chairman of the ruling APC, Adams Oshiomhole, who declared: “Once you have joined APC, all your sins are forgiven.”

The statement stressed that the EFCC is a critical national institution, created to safeguard Nigeria’s economic integrity, yet many “Nigerians fear that its independence is steadily being eroded.

They warned that the operations of the EFCC must be urgently shielded from political interference and must not serve the whims and caprices of any president, party or political faction.

On multiparty democracy, they said, “Nigerians must remain eternally vigilant to ensure that the president does not transform the country into a de facto one-party state – as witnessed in Lagos over the last 25 years, where opposition leaders were silenced, coerced or induced into irrelevance.”

Opposition figures searching scapegoats – Presidency

In a swift reaction, the Presidency said the opposition figures are just blowing “hot air, seeking scapegoats for their failure and move to confuse the polity in a desperate search for cheap political gains.”

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said: “None of the people who joined the governing APC was pressured to do so. They all did so of their own free will. They are being motivated by the noticeable gains of President Bola Tinubu’s reform programme.

“We may ask: when politicians were moving in droves to the now-dying Peoples Democratic Party between 2000 and 2015, was Nigeria’s democracy imperilled?”

The Presidency also said investigations by the EFCC have begun, exposing those with some explanation to give regarding their stewardship in office and management of public funds entrusted to them.

“These politicians now accuse President Tinubu of weaponising the EFCC for political purposes.

“We must reiterate that the EFCC is an independent institution established by law and empowered to carry out its statutory responsibilities without interference or favour.

“We find it curious that the same people who claimed they want to rescue Nigeria are now the ones waging a war of attrition against accountability and probity. Those who have cases to answer before EFCC should be bold and brave enough to defend themselves if they are clean.”

President Tinubu has significant state issues to address rather than engage in political targeting. No one is above the law. Everyone must be accountable for their actions, both in and out of the office. Political affiliation should not be a shield against EFCC statutory work, which recently led to Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list.

“We have taken cognisance of the signatories to the statement. It is instructive that some of them were previously investigated and prosecuted by the EFCC even before President Tinubu took office in 2023.”

HURIWA urges EFCC to respect suspects’ rights

Meanwhile, a civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has called on the EFCC to respect the constitutional rights of suspects.

In a statement on Sunday, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the National Coordinator of HURIWA, accused the EFCC of treating suspects from the South East differently while comparing the handling of Dr. Chris Ngige and the erstwhile Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

It applauded the rights-based approach the EFCC adopted in the arrest and detention of Malami, adding that, “Malami should be grateful that the EFCC respected his dignity by inviting him like a gentleman before he was detained, unlike how the same EFCC invaded the Asokoro family home of the former Minister of Labour and Employment, Ngige, and whisked him off to their fortified detention facility in Abuja in his night pyjamas without even giving heed to his constitutionally guaranteed right to his human dignity as enshrined in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended.)”

HURIWA charged the EFCC to respect the constitutional rights of suspects and desist from the maltreatment of accused persons.

“EFCC, as a creation of the law, must be law-abiding and must operate in total compliance with the human rights provisions enshrined in Chapter 4 of the Constitution, which are enforceable.”

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