Atiku Links Tambuwal Arrest To Continuation Of Tinubu’s Agenda To Harass, Intimidate Opposition

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has labelled Aminu Tambuwal’s detention as a continuation of President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to harass, intimidate, decimate the opposition, reports Business Today NG.
A Abubakar, who stated while reacting to the development on his X handle on Tuesday,12 August, 2025, however, vows that the coalition will never succumb to the anti-democratic machinations of railroading Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship.
“The only reason the @officialEFCC has detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, @AWTambuwal, is because he is a member of the opposition Coalition. It is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition,” Adamawa State born politician said
According to Abubakar, the ”reality unfolding before us today is that the Tinubu administration, as with other aspects, has objectified the fight against corruption as a political tool to coerce opposition leaders into the ruling party.
“We are living witnesses to a growing trend where the state and its operators have assumed the roles of a bully by making corruption and the fight against it a political agenda.
“Certainly, that is not the objective for which I worked hard during our administration to create the EFCC.
“It is as though today, anyone who associates with the opposition is a target for phantom corruption allegations and, it is as though, as soon as they are coerced into the political agenda of President @officialABAT, their ‘sins’ are forgiven.
“That, definitely, is not how to build institutions. That, certainly, is not how to fight the monster of corruption. Indeed, such tendencies provide the stimulant for corruption to thrive.”
Abubakar, a former Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in the 2023 general election, declared that the government has been using the EFCC to empty opposition state governors into the ruling party, and the tea party is not about to end anytime soon.
“While the genuine fight against corruption is a matter that requires the total support of all Nigerians, the objectification of it as a political agenda should be roundly condemned by all in civil society spaces and friends of Nigeria in the international community.
“We have in recent times witnessed the use of anti-corruption agencies in coercing political leaders into the ruling party.
“Our assurance to Nigerians is that we would never succumb to this anti-democratic machinations of railroading our people into a one-party dictatorship,” he said.