The Presidency has rejected allegations by opposition politicians that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is undermining Nigeria’s multi-party democracy and deploying anti-corruption agencies to silence political rivals, describing the claims as baseless and driven by partisan motives.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, said the opposition was engaging in “subterfuge and an empty search for scapegoats” in reaction to what he described as its declining political relevance.
According to the statement, recent defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were neither coerced nor orchestrated by the government, but reflected constitutional freedoms that allow citizens to associate with any political party of their choice.
“The people joining the APC are doing so of their own free will, motivated by the noticeable gains of President Bola Tinubu’s reform programme,” the statement said. It noted that similar waves of defections to the then-dominant Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2000 and 2015 did not attract accusations of democratic backsliding.
Addressing claims that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is being used to harass opposition figures, the Presidency insisted that the agency operates independently and strictly within the bounds of the law.
While stressing that the Presidency does not speak for the EFCC, the statement reaffirmed that the commission is legally empowered to investigate and prosecute financial crimes without regard to political affiliation, influence or social status.
“It is curious that those who claim to want to rescue Nigeria are now waging a war against accountability and probity,” the statement said, urging politicians facing investigation to pursue their grievances through lawful channels.
The Presidency further emphasised that President Tinubu does not direct any anti-corruption agency on who to arrest, investigate or prosecute, noting that the judiciary ultimately determines the outcome of such cases.
Describing allegations of “weaponisation” as deliberate distractions, the statement argued that the opposition was struggling to raise substantive criticisms against an administration it said has recorded measurable achievements in less than three years.
It also pointed out that some individuals backing the opposition’s claims had faced EFCC investigations or prosecutions before President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, while others had been linked to international financial crime probes.
Warning against the politicisation of state institutions, the Presidency said efforts to erode public confidence in anti-corruption agencies weaken national transparency initiatives.
“No one is above the law, and political affiliation should not be a shield against accountability,” the statement said, citing Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list as evidence of progress in the fight against corruption.
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