EFCC: Opposition leaders raise alarm over threat to multi-party democracy
By Ndukaku Ihe
In the run-up to the 2027 general election, a coalition of opposition political leaders have raised alarm on alleged use of state institution, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC)and the police to persecute key position politician.
The opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi , interim national chairman of the African Democratic Congress(ADC), Senator David Mark, Mallam Lawal Batagawara, Chief Olabode George and Chief John Odigie -Oyegun, in a joint statement, yesterday, said state institutions are allegedly being deployed to weaken opposition voice and dismantle the country’s multi-party democracy.
According to them, the country is witnessing an “undemocratic agenda” to ensure that all that 36 states come under the control of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) through the alleged intimidation of opposition governors, using the federal government’s anti-corruption machinery. They alleged that the intimidation of opposition governors is part of a larger plot to silence key opposition leaders ahead of the 2027 polls, noting that the plot if unchecked, would pose serious danger to the country’s democracy.
They stated that, “Nigerians must remain eternally vigilant to ensure that the President does not transform the country into a de facto one-party state – as witnessed in Lagos over the last 25 years, where opposition leaders were silenced, coerced or induced into irrelevance.”
The opposition leaders said: “We are compelled by duty to nation and conscience to issue this statement to alert our compatriots and the international community to the unfortunate and gradual slide of our country into a state where key national institutions – particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the Nigeria Police; the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) are increasingly perceived as tools of political intimidation, selective justice and systematic persecution of opposition leaders.
“Across our nation, there are mounting concerns that state power is being deployed not for prevention of economic crimes, but for persecution of perceived political adversaries, with the ultimate aim of weakening opposition voices and dismantling Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.
“More than ever before in our democratic experience, Nigerians have witnessed what many now describe as a covert, undemocratic agenda: to ensure that all state governments fall under the control of the President’s party – not through transparent electoral contests, but by secretly intimidating opposition governors via the anti-corruption apparatus until they succumb and defect. Recent defections of opposition governors into the ruling party have reinforced public suspicion that political pressure, not ideological or personal persuasion, is driving this realignment.
“This pattern forms part of a broader project that targets not only elected leaders but also key opposition figures perceived as architects of emerging coalitions ahead of the 2027 general election. We must warn that this project, if allowed to continue unchecked, poses a grave danger to Nigeria’s democratic future.”
The opposition leaders, who noted that the EFCC, which was designed as an agency combat graft and enhance accountability stands the risk of becoming an instrument of persecution and undermining democracy and justice, implored President Bola Tinubu to recognise that social and political injustice “could snowball into mayhem as the nation approaches another election cycle.”
They called for the depoliticization of the EFCC, to insulate it from political interferences, stating that the anti graft agency must refocus on detection and prevention of economic crimes across board, and not selective prosecution, media trial or intimidation of opposition politicians.
According to them, ”there is a discernible pattern of persecution of the opposition by the EFCC with the sole objective of weakening same for the benefit of the ruling APC. This disturbing pattern mirrors a long-standing sentiment openly expressed years ago by a former National Chairman of the ruling APC, Adams Oshiomhole, who declared when receiving defectors from the PDP: ‘Once you have joined APC, all your sins are forgiven.’ Whether intended as political rhetoric or not, this statement has come to symbolise a troubling reality: allegations against members of the ruling party are routinely perceived to be overlooked, while even unsubstantiated accusations against opposition figures are vigorously pursued and subjected to media trial.
“A few recent examples reinforce this perception. Months ago, a minister was implicated in a financial scandal so blatant that only sustained public outrage forced her resignation. Yet, long after stepping down, she has neither been charged nor arraigned by the EFCC and is now actively involved in the President’s re-election campaign. Similarly, another minister remained in office despite the university he claimed to have attended publicly denying his academic certificate. He, too, resigned only after intense public pressure; Months later, no charges have been filed.
“Such selective enforcement undermines the legitimacy of anti-corruption efforts and erodes public trust. Furthermore, Nigerians are not blind to the sudden empowerment of certain political actors, including individuals appointed to federal executive positions after crossing from the opposition but still claim to be members of opposition party – whose unstated mandate, in the public’s eyes, appears to include the systematic destabilisation of opposition parties through the creation of factions, inducement and the exploitation of judicial processes, allegedly funded by state resources.”
They added: “Relying on the Supreme Court ruling on the powers of the EFCC over all public accounts, for true prevention of financial crimes, anti-graft operatives should be embedded in all the payment processes of governments at all levels to ensure compliance with rules of transparency, accountability and probity in public financial transactions. Put differently, the EFCC must recognise and exercise their function as covering both pre and post expenditure. Operatives must also be held accountable for any unreported but later detected economic and financial infractions in their respective areas of oversight. To further strengthen the EFCC, we propose that the EFCC Act should be amended for this purpose.
“We call on the Attorney General, in consultation with the National Assembly, to set up an independent review body which should be granted full access to the public accounts of the federal, all states and all local governments covering from 2015 to 2025, with a mandate to conduct a transparent, comprehensive review of financial transactions and publish its findings. Such a review will expose the EFCC’s pattern of selective prosecution of opposition figures and reveal that many current officials of the federal government—and those of ruling-party-controlled states—should have long been prosecuted for economic and financial crimes, but were shielded due to their political affiliation. Based on its findings, the independent body should also propose amendments to EFCC’s enabling law to strengthen the agency for more effective and efficient prevention of financial crimes.”
They stated that in the days ahead, they will provide more details , as well as engage the foreign partners of the country’s anti-graft agencies, diplomatic missions “to express our deep concern about the EFCC increasingly becoming a willing tool in a broader scheme to weaken opposition in Nigeria, and also demand a reform of the anti graft agency. Nigeria’s democracy demands our vigilance, courage and unity, as Edmund Burke, an Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher, warned: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.
