Tambuwal’s detention: Opposition won’t succumb to Tinubu’s antics to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, Atiku vows

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has described the arrest and detention of former Governor of Sokoto State and serving Senator, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as a continuation of President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to harass, intimidate and decimate the opposition.

Atiku said this in a message on his X (formerly Twitter), which was made available in a press statement by his media office in Abuja on Tuesday.

The former Vice President, who recently resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and joined the African Democratic Congress, ADC, made it clear that the coalition party will never succumb to anti-democratic machinations of railroading Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship.

According to him, the only reason the EFCC has detained the former Governor of Sokoto State is because he is a member of the opposition Coalition.

Continuing, he said that the detention is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition.

According to him, “The only reason the @officialEFCC has detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, @AWTambuwal, is because he is a member of the opposition Coalition.

“It is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition.

“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.

“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.

“We have in recent times witnessed the use of anti-corruption agencies in coercing political leaders into the ruling party.

“Our assurance to Nigerians is that we would never succumb to this anti-democratic machinations of railroading our people into a one-party dictatorship”, he concluded.