Atiku urges Tinubu to order ICPC release El-Rufai after EFCC Osun account freeze lifted

 Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has challenged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to release Nasir el-Rufai.   El-Rufai has been in the custody of the ICPC since February 19 over alleged financial impropriety during his tenure as governor of Kaduna between 2015 and 2023.   On April 13, the ICPC arraigned the former governor at the Kaduna high court on an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office.   ‘TINUBU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS’     Atiku said Tinubu’s recent directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to lift the freeze on the Osun state government’s bank accounts has undermined repeated claims that the country’s anti-graft agencies operate independently.   Tinubu had on Thursday directed the EFCC to return to court and vacate the order freezing the Osun government’s accounts, saying although the agency acted within its statutory powers, the timing of the action — days before the August 15 governorship election — was inappropriate.   Reacting in a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, his senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku said the president’s intervention had exposed what he described as the “myth” of the EFCC’s operational independence.     The former vice-president questioned Tinubu’s claim that the EFCC had obtained a court order before placing a lid on the accounts.   According to him, the anti-graft agency never mentioned any court order while explaining the basis for its action.   “President Tinubu’s statement has raised more questions than it has answered,” Atiku said.   “While the EFCC’s official statement painstakingly explained why it froze the Osun State Government’s account, it made no mention whatsoever of obtaining a court order.     “Yet the President’s intervention is predicated entirely on the existence of such a court order, which he claims to have directed the EFCC to vacate.   “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.”   Atiku stated that Tinubu could not claim to be detached from the EFCC’s operations while simultaneously directing the commission to discontinue its action.   “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,” he said.   “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.”   ‘DIRECT ICPC TO RELEASE EL-RUFAI’ Atiku said Tinubu’s intervention had created a constitutional and moral obligation that could not be applied selectively.   “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,” he said.   “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.   “Executive power cannot be invoked selectively for political convenience while institutional independence is cited only when it suits the Presidency.”   The former vice-president said the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions and the rule of law was at stake.   He added that although reversing the freezing of the Osun government’s account may reduce tension ahead of the governorship election, it did not answer questions about why the 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?” he said.

By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA: Former Vice President 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 if the president could order the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to vacate its freeze on Osun State’s […] The post Free El-Rufai too, Atiku challenges Tinubu over EFCC’s Osun climbdown appeared first on Vanguard News.