By Mary Onyia
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has questioned the operational independence of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies, arguing that President Bola Tinubu’s reported directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to reverse the freezing of Osun State Government’s bank accounts has raised fresh concerns over whether the agencies truly operate without political interference.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said the President’s intervention contradicts repeated assurances that the EFCC functions independently of the Presidency. According to Atiku, if the Commission could reverse its action on presidential instruction, it would cast doubt on its institutional autonomy and the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-graft architecture.
Atiku noted that although the EFCC explained why it froze the Osun accounts, it made no reference to obtaining a court order. He argued that the Presidency’s explanation—that Tinubu directed the Commission to vacate a court order—introduced conflicting official accounts. Nigerians, he said, deserve a clear and consistent explanation of the legal basis for both the freezing of the accounts and their subsequent unfreezing.
“President Tinubu cannot have it both ways,” Atiku said. “He cannot claim that he neither knew of nor interfered in the operations of the EFCC and, in the next breath, announce that he directed the Commission to discontinue its action. If the EFCC promptly complies with such a directive, then Nigerians have before them undeniable proof that the Commission is not as operationally independent as the President wants the country to believe.”
The former vice president further argued that if the President can issue operational directives to the EFCC, the same principle should apply to other anti-corruption agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). He challenged Tinubu to explain why such authority could not similarly be exercised in relation to former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai if executive directives can influence the operations of anti-graft agencies.
Atiku maintained that the controversy extends beyond the Osun account freeze and strikes at the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic institutions. He described the credibility of agencies expected to operate independently and uphold the rule of law as the “real casualty.” While acknowledging that lifting the freeze may have eased political tension ahead of the August 15 Osun governorship election, he insisted that critical questions remain over why the accounts of an opposition-controlled state were frozen at such a politically sensitive period. Democracy, he argued, is measured not by reversing controversial decisions after public outrage but by preventing such actions in the first place.
Political analysts, however, say the extent of the EFCC’s operational independence remains a subject of public, legal, and constitutional debate, with differing interpretations of the relationship between the Presidency and constitutionally established anti-corruption agencies.