ADC accuses EFCC of targeting its members while protecting APC members
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Selective investigations are being used by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in cahoots with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Bola Tinubu and those in his presidential orbit to intimidate opposition figures, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has alleged.
Such actions erode public trust in the anti-graft agency and weaken Nigeria’s fight against corruption, as well as threaten democracy by a creeping dictatorship, said Bolaji Abdullahi.
A statement issued by the interim ADC National Publicity Secretary alleged that the EFCC has been re-opening long-closed cases and reviving decade-old allegations against members of opposition parties, while quietly dropping probes involving members and allies of the ruling APC.
““The EFCC was created to be a fearless defender of the Nigerian people’s trust, applying the law evenly to all, friend or foe, ruling party or opposition. Today, that vision appears to have been compromised,” Abdullahi pointed out.
“The Commission now operates like a department of the APC, deployed to fight government critics and opposition figures, thereby achieving what the government cannot achieve through public debate.”
In recent days, he alleged, several senior figures in the opposition coalition have received EFCC summons in “politically motivated” actions in cases opened not from new evidence but as retaliation for political alignments.
The EFCC on Monday detained Senator Aminu Tambuwal when he honoured invitation by the graft burster over “suspicious” withdrawal of N189 billion from Sokoto State Government account when he was Governor between 2015 and 2023.
Tambuwal, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is sympathetic to the opposition coalition in the ADC.
Abdullahi cited instances where investigations of prominent APC members have “vanished from public view” following their defection to the party, while opposition leaders continue to face relentless legal and media pressure.
“Since a certain former Governor defected to the APC with his state’s entire political machinery, the EFCC’s investigations into his administration have vanished from public view. Not a question has been asked. Not a document leaked. Not a single update.
“In today’s Nigeria, one’s guilt or innocence appears to depend on party membership, not evidence ….
“This is selective prosecution, and selective prosecution is the death of justice,” the statement added, warning that public perception of the EFCC is increasingly that “one’s guilt or innocence depends on party membership, not evidence.”
Abdullahi implored Nigerians, civil society organisations, and the media to resist “the dangerous slide into dictatorship,” reiterating that the EFCC “the EFCC does not belong to the APC. It belongs to the Nigerian people. It is funded by taxpayers, not the ruling party.”
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