Buhari govt using EFCC to persecute Saraki, Atiku alleges

Former Nigerian vice president Atiku Abubakar Tuesday alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to persecute political opponents, particularly, immediate past Senate president Bukola Saraki.

“I believe it is wrong to use the instruments of state to persecute political opponents,” Atiku said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Atiku, who contested and lost the 2019 presidential election to Buhari, said the revival of cases which the Supreme Court acquitted Saraki of, were indications that Nigeria’s anti-graft agency was functioning as a tool for oppressing government opposition.

Prior to Atiku’s statement, the EFCC said it was investigating Saraki’s earnings while he was Kwara State governor between 2003 to 2011 before he emerged Nigeria Senate president in 2015 till 2019.

Saraki said the probe into his earnings was a witch-hunt against his person as his earnings while he was Kwara State governor had long been probed before his emergence as Nigeria’s Senate president in 2015.

“To single out one individual for persistent investigation can only be logically and plausibly interpreted to be a witch-hunt,” Saraki’s media adviser Yusuph Olaniyonu said in a statement.

“This is definitely no fight against corruption. It is a battle waged against a ‘political enemy’. It is a ‘label to damage’ plot.”

Saraki insisted that his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) between 2015 and 2018 on a 16-count charge filed against him further proved his innocence after being upheld by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.