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By Myke Agunwa
Members of the opposition political parties have continued to criticize the recent arrest of former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, by the Economic and Finance Crime Commission (EFCC).
Pointblanknews.com reported that the EFCC on Monday took the current Senator representing Sokoto South, Tambuwal, into custody over allegations of massive and suspicious cash withdrawals totaling ₦189 billion during his eight-year tenure as governor.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) had on Monday alleged that the Commission operates like a political hit squad for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), deployed to fight government critics and opposition figures, thereby achieving what the government cannot achieve through public debate.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in a series of tweets on his official X handle also said that the arrest is part of the plans by the Tinubu-led administration to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition.
Painting a picture of how opposition parties are being hounded by the Tinubu administration Atiku said, “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 Tinubu, their ‘sins’ are forgiven.”
While condemning the development, Atiku said, “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”.
The former Vice President acknowledged the need for a genuine fight against corruption and said that it requires the total support of all Nigerians.
According to him, 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.
He lamented how the government is coercing political leaders into the ruling party and assured that Nigerians would never succumb to the anti-democratic machinations of railroading people into a one-party dictatorship.