By Tolulope Oke

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the case of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, arguing that the President’s directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to vacate the Osun State account freeze showed he could influence the actions of anti-corruption agencies when necessary.

Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, said Tinubu could not claim to be powerless over the continued detention of El-Rufai after intervening in the EFCC action involving the Osun State Government.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the President owed Nigerians an explanation on why he could direct the EFCC to discontinue its action but could not exercise similar influence over the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in El-Rufai’s case.

“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,” Atiku said.

He added that if Tinubu could direct the EFCC to reverse its action against Osun State, he should also address concerns surrounding El-Rufai’s continued detention.

“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 said.

The former vice president also criticised the conflicting explanations surrounding the Osun account freeze, questioning why the EFCC did not initially disclose that its action was based on a court order.

He argued that the development had raised concerns about the independence of anti-corruption institutions and the credibility of Nigeria’s fight against corruption.

Atiku said reversing the Osun account freeze shortly before the state’s governorship election did not erase the questions raised by the incident.