Former Vice President of Nigeria and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar has condemned the crude and unorthodox attempt to arrest a key ADC figure and former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai at the Abuja International Airport on Thursday.
Reacting to the incident in a statement by his media office in Abuja, the former Vice President frowned at attempt to arrest el-Rufai by the EFCC officials with total disregard for due process.
“While I support the anti-corruption effort in the country (having been pivotal in setting up the commission), I am worried about the politicisation of arrests that disproportionately target opposition leaders, especially the ADC since it came into being,” Atiku said.
He noted that the fanatical zeal the EFCC has been going after ADC coalition figures is a deviation from its constitutional mandate.
He pointed out that the EFCC was not established to be a political tool of the president or the ruling party, adding “if we continue on this path, the EFCC will lose credibility and compromise its independence.”
Atiku recalled that the Uwais Panel on Electoral Reforms specifically recommended that the EFCC Chairman should be answerable to the Chief Justice of Nigeria in order to protect its independence.
The former Vice President, however, regretted that the implementation panel set up by the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration failed to adopt the recommendation of the Uwais Panel on the independence of the EFCC.
Atiku reminded the EFCC leadership to rise above partisanship and focus on the larger public interest, warning that “governments come and go” and that “the agency’s loyalty to the constitution should not be sacrificed on the altar of partisan bias and interest.
