Tinubu ordering EFCC is the corruption we refuse to see

Oba Maduabuchi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said on Arise Television on Thursday that President Tinubu has no power under any law to direct the EFCC, and he is absolutely right. The man said it plainly: "The president does not have the power under any law to control the EFCC or any other anti-graft agency." And yet, the same week, Tinubu publicly ordered the EFCC to vacate the court order freezing Osun State government accounts just 10 days before the governorship election. That is not leadership, that is interference.

Let us be honest with ourselves. The EFCC is supposed to be the dogs that fight corruption, including corruption from the executive, legislature and judiciary. If the very person the EFCC is meant to investigate can pick up a phone and tell them who to chase and who to leave alone, then what exactly are we fighting? Maduabuchi said it better than I ever could: "It will be wrong if the person you are supposed to chase has the power to direct you and do it publicly. That affects confidence." That is the whole problem in one sentence.

Some of you will say Tinubu was saving Osun from injustice, that the freeze was politically motivated. Fine, maybe it was. But the solution is not for the president to override an anti-corruption agency in public. The solution is for the court to review its order, for the EFCC to justify its actions, and for due process to run its course. When the president starts directing anti-graft agencies, we have already lost the war against corruption, we are just pretending we are still fighting. Am I the only one that thinks this is the clearest sign yet that the EFCC answers to Aso Rock and not to the law?