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Says no sacred cows, corruption has no party lines
PDP kicks, says arrests politically motivated, strategy to silence dissenting voices
FG using EFCC against opposition – ADC
From Ndubuisi Orji, Sola Ojo, Abuja and Shafa’atu Suleiman, Sokoto
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has again dismissed allegations of bias levelled against it by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as it maintained that its investigations cut across all political divides.
Executive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said the Commission’s work is non-partisan as it targets both the ruling party members and opposition figures accused of corruption.
“If I am not condemned for investigating both former and serving strong ruling party governors and ministers, I should not be condemned for also investigating opposition figures,” Olukoyede stated.
The ADC had accused the EFCC of issuing politically motivated summons to intimidate opposition politicians, claiming the cases were not based on fresh evidence.
But the anti-graft agency described the claims as self-serving and diversionary, stressing that every corruption allegation must be investigated regardless of when it occurred.
EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, said court records showed that politicians from different parties are facing trial while several serving governors across political lines are under investigation.
He insisted there are “no sacred cows” in the fight against corruption, warning that the Commission would not bow to political pressure or reveal details of ongoing discreet investigations.
“Fraud is fraud. Corruption is corruption. There is no protected interest or partisan consideration in our work,” Oyewale stressed.
The EFCC urged political parties to focus on their internal affairs and allow the agency to carry out its duties, calling on Nigerians to ignore politically charged statements aimed at distracting from the looting of public funds.
Notwithstanding, the two leading opposition parties have insisted that the All Progressives Congress ( APC)-led Federal Government is allegedly using the EFCC to intimidate opponents.
The ADC, in a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the EFCC should leave the APC to fight its political battles itself.
The opposition party said the detention of former Sokoto governor, Senator Aminu Tambuwal and the invitation of the Imo State government over the tenure of Emeka Ihedioha’s tenure was an indication that the anti-graft agency is allegedly out to discredit key opposition figures.
The party wondered why the EFCC is suddenly interested in probing its Acting National Chairman, David Mark, 10 years after his tenure as Senate president.
The statement read: “The detention of one of our leaders, former Sokoto State governor, Senator Aminu Tambuwal, has marked the start of the crackdown intended to intimidate key leaders of the opposition and discredit them through media trials.
“As shown in an EFCC correspondence currently circulating online, the Commission has now embarked on the investigation of another coalition chieftain, former Imo governor, Emeka Ihedioha, with an ‘urgent’ request to the officials to provide information related specifically to his brief seven months in office.
“Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, served as governor of Imo State for just seven months, from May 29, 2019, until the Supreme Court removed him on January 14, 2020 — a full five years and seven months ago. We, therefore, wonder what makes investigating him suddenly ‘urgent’ now.
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“Most notably, the EFCC has now surreptitiously started excavating all the files on the ADC Chairman, Senator David Mark’s tenure as President of the Nigerian Senate. Let us remind Nigerians that our party chairman, Senator Mark, served as Senate president for eight years, from June 6, 2007 to June 6, 2015 — making him the longest-serving Senate president in our history. He left office 10 years and two months ago. Three Senate presidents after, the EFCC suddenly remembered that he was a Senate president.
“While the ADC, as a party, stands for adherence to the rule of law and due process, like all Nigerians, we question the curious timing, selective targets and political motivations that now seem to define the EFCC’s actions. A fight against corruption that begins and ends with the opposition is not justice — it is persecution.
“We have no doubts that this is witch-hunting; it is the APC government weaponising anti-corruption to do its political battle. Having failed to stop the coalition, the jittery ruling party’s next move is to discredit its leaders by getting the EFCC to accuse them of looting the entire treasuries.”
The ADC added that “these are calculated media trials, which start and end with the accusation, the scandal, and the consequent lowering of public estimation. It matters little whether there is a basis for these accusations — the game is the circus show.
“The questions write themselves: Why now? Why these men? Why these timelines? If corruption truly has no statute of limitation, why are the EFCC’s files on APC’s own “big men,” many with fresher, documented cases, gathering dust in forgotten drawers? Why does the EFCC only discover “urgent” anti-corruption zeal when an opposition leader becomes a political threat?
“The truth is simple. These are not fresh investigations — they are political manoeuvres, cynical attempts to intimidate and weaken credible opposition voices ahead of the 2027 elections. The APC’s EFCC does not touch its own while they are in office or when they defect to the ruling party. Once a former governor crosses over, their files vanish like morning dew.
“Since Ifeanyi Okowa joined the APC, have Nigerians heard a single whisper from the EFCC about his cases? Yet, opposition leaders are hounded with allegations from decades past without a shred of new evidence.
“Let this be on record: what the EFCC is doing on behalf of the APC government is anti-democracy. Every time the EFCC is deployed as a political bulldog, it tramples on public trust and shreds the credibility of our justice system. We remind the APC that state institutions do not belong to the ruling party — they belong to Nigerians.”
Reacting, the Sokoto State chapter of the PDP also condemned the arrest of Tambuwal, describing it as a politically motivated move aimed at silencing opposition voices.
Tambuwal, who governed Sokoto State for eight years and previously served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, was taken into EFCC custody on Monday over alleged financial misconduct during his tenure.
In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Hassan Sahabi Sanyinnawal, the PDP agreed with the ASDC that his arrest was part of a wider plan by the APC-led Federal Government to intimidate political opponents and weaken growing opposition to President Tinubu’s administration.
“The so-called investigation is nothing more than a fishing expedition revived from an old phantom case that has failed to produce evidence in the past.”
It claimed that the arrest was the handiwork of political actors in Sokoto and Abuja who are desperate to smear Tambuwal’s enviable image and force him to abandon his stand against misrule.
The party insisted that Tambuwal’s administration was marked by fiscal discipline and transparency, and accused the EFCC of selective prosecution, ignoring “genuine corruption cases” involving ruling party members.
The party called on anti-graft agencies to “live above board” and urged its supporters and the people of Sokoto State to remain calm but resolute in the demand for genuine democracy and good governance.
“Our trust in Tambuwal’s integrity cannot be shaken by politically motivated probes,” the party declared.
