Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to release former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, arguing that the President's intervention in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's (EFCC) freeze on Osun State's government account has demolished the claim that anti-corruption agencies operate independently of the Presidency. In a statement issued on Thursday, August 6, 2026, by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said that having demonstrated that he can issue direct operational directives to anti-corruption agencies whenever he considers it expedient, President Tinubu owes Nigerians an explanation as to why he cannot exercise the same authority in the case of El-Rufai.
Atiku's challenge came just hours after President Tinubu, in a personal statement, directed the EFCC to immediately vacate the freeze on Osun State's statutory allocation account, which the anti-graft agency had secured through a court order on August 5, as part of an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of about N11 billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds, and Federal Account Allocation Committee allocations. Tinubu had described the timing of the EFCC's action as "deeply embarrassing" and potentially damaging to public confidence in the democratic process just days before the state's governorship election, scheduled for August 15.
However, Atiku argued that the President's intervention had exposed the fiction of institutional independence under his administration. "President Tinubu cannot have it both ways. He cannot claim that he neither knew of nor interferes in the operations of the EFCC and, in the very next breath, announce that he has directed the Commission to discontinue its action and return to court. If the EFCC promptly complies with that directive, then Nigerians have before them undeniable proof that the Commission is not as operationally independent as the President wants the country to believe," Atiku declared.
The former vice president also questioned the conflicting narratives emerging from government officials regarding the Osun freeze. "If indeed there was a court order, why did the EFCC omit such a fundamental fact from its official account? If there was none, then the President has introduced into the public discourse a legal process that exists nowhere in the EFCC's own narrative. Nigerians deserve a coherent explanation instead of conflicting versions from the same government," he said.
Atiku pressed further on the implications of the President's directive, stating that Tinubu cannot pretend to be powerless over the actions of the ICPC in El-Rufai's case while simultaneously directing the EFCC. "Having now demonstrated that he can issue direct operational directives to anti-corruption agencies whenever he considers it expedient, President Tinubu owes Nigerians an explanation as to why he cannot exercise the same authority in the case of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. If he can direct the EFCC to discontinue its action today, then he cannot pretend to be powerless over the actions of the ICPC tomorrow," Atiku declared.
The ADC presidential candidate also took aim at the broader implications of the episode, arguing that institutions cannot be independent only when it is politically convenient and subject to presidential directives whenever controversy arises. "That is not institutional autonomy; it is executive control disguised as independence," he said. According to Atiku, the controversy goes far beyond Osun State or the detention of El-Rufai, striking at the heart of public trust in Nigeria's anti-corruption architecture and the rule of law itself.
He noted that while reversing the freezing of the Osun State Government's account may avert further damage to the electoral process, it does not erase the disturbing fact that such an action was initiated in the first place. "The unanswered questions remain: who authorised the freezing of the account of an opposition-controlled state just days before a governorship election, and why was such an extraordinary action taken at such a politically sensitive moment?" Atiku asked.
The former vice president concluded by emphasising that democracy is not measured by the ability to reverse an injustice after public outrage, but by the discipline to prevent such injustice from occurring in the first place. As the EFCC prepares to comply with the President's directive and return to court to vacate the freeze, the controversy has exposed deep fault lines in Nigeria's anti-corruption architecture and raised uncomfortable questions about the independence of federal agencies in politically sensitive periods. For now, Atiku has made his position clear: if Tinubu can direct the EFCC, he can also free El-Rufai, and Nigerians are watching to see whether the President will act on his challenge.
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