By Editor
Former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to release former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, if the President truly has the authority to issue operational directives to Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies.
Atiku’s challenge followed President Tinubu’s directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to return to court and vacate the order freezing the bank accounts of the Osun State Government, a move the former vice-president said has cast doubt on repeated claims that the nation’s anti-graft agencies operate independently.
In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku argued that the President’s intervention had exposed what he described as the “myth” of the EFCC’s operational independence.
According to Atiku, while the EFCC had explained the reasons for freezing the Osun Government’s accounts, the commission made no reference to obtaining a court order before taking the action.
“President Tinubu’s statement has raised more questions than it has answered,” Atiku said.
“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.”
The former vice-president maintained that the President could not simultaneously claim to have no influence over the EFCC while directing it to discontinue an enforcement action.
“He cannot claim that he neither knew of nor interferes in the operations of the EFCC and, in the very next breath, announce that he has directed the commission to discontinue its action and return to court,” Atiku said.
“If the EFCC promptly complies with that directive, then Nigerians have before them undeniable proof that the commission is not as operationally independent as the President wants the country to believe.”
Atiku argued that the President’s action had created what he described as a constitutional and moral obligation that should not be applied selectively.
“Having now demonstrated that he can issue direct operational directives to anti-corruption agencies whenever he considers it expedient, President Tinubu owes Nigerians an explanation as to why he cannot exercise the same authority in the case of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai,” he said.
“If he can direct the EFCC to discontinue its action today, then he cannot pretend to be powerless over the actions of the ICPC tomorrow.
“Executive power cannot be invoked selectively for political convenience while institutional independence is cited only when it suits the Presidency.”
El-Rufai has remained in ICPC custody since February 19 over allegations of financial impropriety linked to his tenure as Kaduna State governor between 2015 and 2023. The anti-graft agency arraigned him before a Kaduna High Court on April 13 on an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office.
While acknowledging that lifting the freeze on Osun State’s accounts could ease political tension ahead of the August 15 governorship election, Atiku said critical questions surrounding the initial decision remained unanswered.
“The unanswered questions remain: who authorised the freezing of the account of an opposition-controlled state just days before a governorship election, and why was such an extraordinary action taken at such a politically sensitive moment?” he said.
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