The Sokoto State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had earlier condemned the arrest, describing it as part of a wider plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Nigerian government to intimidate political opponents and weaken growing resistance to the president.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) had earlier accused the EFCC of carrying out selective investigations targeting opposition politicians, often by reopening old cases without fresh evidence.

“Certainly, that is not the objective for which I worked hard during our administration to create the EFCC,” Atiku said in a statement on Tuesday.

“It is as though today, anyone who associates with the opposition is a target for phantom corruption allegations and, it is as though, as soon as they are coerced into the political agenda of President Tinubu, their ‘sins’ are forgiven.”

“That, definitely, is not how to build institutions. That, certainly, is not how to fight the monster of corruption. Indeed, such tendencies provide the stimulant for corruption to thrive.”

The former vice-president in a statement via his verified social media handle alleged that the EFCC has been used to force opposition state governors into the ruling party, warning that the “tea party is not about to end anytime soon.”

He urged civil society and the international community to condemn what he described as “the objectification” of the anti-corruption fight for political ends, adding that the opposition would never succumb to any anti-democratic plan to railroad Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship.