Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the only reason the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has detained the former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is that he is a member of the opposition coalition.

Atiku, in a statement on Tuesday, said the detention is a continuation of the Tinubu-led administration’s agenda to harass, intimidate, and decimate the opposition.

He said that the reality unfolding before Nigerians today is that the Tinubu administration, like other aspects, has exploited 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.

"We have seen how the EFCC has been used 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," Atiku said.

ASA