Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to release former Kaduna Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, if he indeed has the authority to issue operational directives to anti-corruption agencies.
Atiku made the call on Thursday in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, while reacting to the President’s directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to vacate what he described as a court order freezing the Osun State Government’s account.
According to the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the President’s intervention has undermined the long-standing claim that Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies operate independently of the Presidency.
“President Tinubu’s statement has raised more questions than it has answered. 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,” Atiku said.
He questioned why the EFCC allegedly failed to disclose the existence of a court order if one had indeed been obtained.
“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. Nigerians deserve a coherent explanation instead of conflicting versions from the same government,” he said.
The former Vice President argued that the President had inadvertently exposed what he described as the lack of operational independence of anti-corruption agencies.
“President Tinubu cannot have it both ways. 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.
“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.
“One cannot preach institutional independence while exercising direct operational control over the same institution. Institutions cannot be independent only when it is politically convenient and subject to presidential directives whenever controversy arises. That is not institutional autonomy; it is executive control disguised as independence,” he added.
Atiku further argued that the President’s intervention created a constitutional and moral obligation that should be applied consistently.
“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.
“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,” he said.
The former Vice President maintained that the issue extended beyond the Osun State Government’s account or El-Rufai’s detention.
“The real casualty is the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions and the rule of law itself. Nigerians deserve institutions that are genuinely independent—not institutions that are portrayed as independent until the Presidency decides otherwise,” he said.
While acknowledging that reversing the freezing of Osun State’s account could prevent further disruption to the electoral process, Atiku insisted that critical questions 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?
“Nigerians deserve answers. Democracy is not measured by the ability to reverse an injustice after public outrage; it is measured by the discipline to prevent such injustice from occurring in the first place,” he stated.
