•EFCC operatives
The African Democratic Congress has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of acting as a political tool for the ruling All Progressives Congress and targeting opposition figures through selective investigations.
The party, in a statement today by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, cried out that the anti-graft agency had compromised its mandate by reopening old cases against opposition politicians while ignoring allegations involving ruling party members, reports The PUNCH.
“In recent days, several senior members of the Opposition Coalition have received EFCC summons that are clearly politically motivated,” Abdullahi said.
According to him, the cases being revived are “not fresh cases arising from new evidence but new files opened in reaction to emergent political affiliations to intimidate key opposition figures.”
He added, “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.”
The ADC spokesperson claimed that investigations involving allies of the APC often “quietly fade away,” while opposition politicians are “dragged before the court of public opinion with sometimes decade-old allegations that have been hastily revived and dressed up as fresh evidence.”
“It does appear that in today’s Nigeria, one’s guilt or innocence depends on one’s party membership, not evidence.
“For example, 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.
“Yet the same EFCC still somehow find means to reopen old cases against opposition leaders and pursue the stale allegations against them,” Abdullahi added.
The party warned that the trend was eroding public trust in the EFCC and undermining the fight against corruption, urging civil society groups and the media to resist what it described as a “dangerous slide into dictatorship and misuse of public institutions to achieve partisan objectives.”
“The EFCC does not belong to the APC.
“It belongs to the Nigerian
people.
“It is funded by taxpayers, not the ruling party,” Abdullahi said.
THE FULL STATEMENT READS:
”In recent days, several senior members of the Opposition Coalition have received EFCC summons that are clearly politically motivated. These are not fresh cases arising from new evidence but new files opened in reaction to emergent political affiliations to intimidate key opposition figures.
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. 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.
”Meanwhile, we have observed how investigations into ruling party allies quietly fade away while opposition figures are dragged before the court of public opinion with sometimes decade-old allegations that have been hastily revived and dressed up as fresh evidence. This is selective prosecution, and selective prosecution is the death of justice.
”It does appear that in today’s Nigeria, one’s guilt or innocence depends on one’s party membership, not evidence. For example, 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. Yet the same EFCC still somehow find means to reopen old cases against opposition leaders and pursue the stale allegations against them.
”It does not augur well for the EFCC if people think that all you need to point the accusing hands of the Commission in your direction is to stand opposed to the ruling party and all that it takes for protection is to align with the government. Unfortunately, this is the widely established perception in Nigeria today, which the commission by its recent actions, including the ongoing surreptitious harassment of opposition leaders, has given credence to.
”The ADC hereby calls on all Nigerians, civil society organisations, and the independent media to resist this dangerous slide into dictatorship and misuse of public institutions to achieve partisan objectives.
“The EFCC does not belong to the APC. It belongs to the Nigerian people. It is funded by taxpayers, not the ruling party.”
