A coalition of Northern youth organisations has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a political tool to target opposition figures and suppress dissent ahead of the 2027 elections. The group’s statement insists that anti-graft actions against opposition politicians including high-profile investigations and arrests amount to weaponisation of the EFCC for partisan ends, arguing that enforcement has disproportionately focused on critics of the administration.
According to the coalition, recent EFCC activities against opposition politicians and party officials which they claim have intensified in tandem with political realignment and defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) serve to intimidate rival parties and erode multiparty competition. They argued that the trend undermines democratic fairness and could dissuade citizens from meaningful political engagement.
The youth groups urged the International community, civil society and electoral stakeholders to monitor the situation closely and called for greater transparency and fairness in the enforcement of corruption laws, asserting that accountability must be applied without political bias. They reiterated that an anti-corruption agency’s credibility depends on equal treatment of all citizens regardless of political affiliation.
However, the Presidency has rejected such claims, emphasising that the EFCC is an independent statutory agency that operates within the law and that investigations are not politically directed. Government spokespeople have stressed that freedom of association and political plurality are protected under Nigeria’s Constitution, and that enforcement actions are rooted in legal processes rather than partisan objectives.
The debate over the role of the EFCC in Nigeria’s political landscape reflects broader tensions between anti-graft enforcement and political competition, particularly as major electoral contests loom and scrutiny of institutional impartiality intensifies.
