Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to release former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, following the President’s intervention in the controversy surrounding the freezing of Osun State Government accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said President Tinubu’s directive to the EFCC to reverse the action on the Osun accounts showed that the President has the power to influence the operations of anti-corruption agencies.

In a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku argued that the development had raised questions about the independence of Nigeria’s anti-graft institutions.

“President Tinubu’s statement has raised more questions than it has answered. 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,” Atiku said.

He questioned why the EFCC’s explanation did not reference a court order, despite the President’s directive being based on the existence of such an order.

 “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,” he added.

Atiku said President Tinubu could not claim that anti-corruption agencies were independent while also directing their actions when controversies arise.

 “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,” he stated.

The former vice president said the President’s intervention created an obligation to explain why similar authority could not be applied 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:

“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 maintained that the issue was beyond the freezing of Osun State Government accounts or the detention of the former Kaduna governor, saying the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions was at stake.

 “The real casualty is the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions and the rule of law itself. Nigerians deserve institutions that are genuinely independent — not institutions that are portrayed as independent until the Presidency decides otherwise,” he said.

The ADC presidential candidate also questioned the timing of the EFCC’s action against the Osun State Government, given its proximity to the state’s governorship election.

 “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 asked.

Atiku said reversing the decision on the Osun accounts would not remove the need for accountability over how the action was initiated.

 “Democracy is not measured by the ability to reverse an injustice after public outrage; it is measured by the discipline to prevent such injustice from occurring in the first place,” he said.

The statement was signed by Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, and dated August 6, 2026.