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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has
accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of carrying out
selective investigations and behaving like a political hit squad for the ruling
All Progressives Congress (APC). The party warned that this dangerous trend is
eroding public trust in the institution and undermining the real fight against
corruption.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity
Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the EFCC’s recent pattern of
action, re-opening closed cases, digging up files from years past, and targeting
members of opposition parties is not the work of an impartial anti-graft body.
It is the work of a political enforcer.
The full press statement:
In recent days, several senior members of the
Opposition Coalition have received EFCC summons that are clearly politically
motivated. These are not fresh cases arising from new evidence but new files
opened in reaction to emergent political affiliations to intimidate key
opposition figures.
The EFCC was created to be a fearless defender
of the Nigerian people’s trust, applying the law evenly to all, friend or foe,
ruling party or opposition. Today, that vision appears to have been
compromised. The Commission now operates like a department of the APC, deployed
to fight government critics and opposition figures thereby achieving what the
government cannot achieve through public debate.
Meanwhile, we have observed how investigations
into ruling party allies quietly fade away while opposition figures are dragged
before the court of public opinion with sometimes decade-old allegations that
have been hastily revived and dressed up as fresh evidence. This is selective
prosecution, and selective prosecution is the death of justice.
It does appear that in today’s Nigeria, one’s
guilt or innocence depends on one’s party membership, not evidence. For
example, since a certain former governor defected to the APC with his state’s
entire political machinery, the EFCC’s investigations into his administration
have vanished from public view. Not a question has been asked. Not a document
leaked. Not a single update. Yet the same EFCC still somehow find means to
reopen old cases against opposition leaders and pursue the stale allegations
against them.
It does not augur well for the EFCC if people
think that all you need to point the accusing hands of the Commission in your
direction is to stand opposed to the ruling party and all that it takes for
protection is to align with the government. Unfortunately, this is the widely
established perception in Nigeria today, which the commission by its recent
actions, including the ongoing surreptitious harassment of opposition leaders,
has given credence to.
The ADC hereby calls on all Nigerians, Civil Society Organizations, and the independent media to resist this dangerous slide into
dictatorship and misuse of public institutions to achieve partisan objectives.
The EFCC does not belong to the APC. It belongs to the Nigerian people. It is
funded by taxpayers, not the ruling party.
Signed,
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
National Publicity Secretary
African Democratic Congress