By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.
Many people of true conscience have rightly believed that the arrest of Professor Yusuf Usman by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and his continued detention at the Kuje Prison in Abuja, was politically motivated. They are right and wrong at the same time. Yes, they are right it was politically motivated, but by no means motivated by any kind of financial impropriety committed by him.
It has now become an incontestable fact that his arrest and detention are ONLY politically motivated as he has personally weighed in on the raging campaign being waged by assorted organisations and individuals to get him free of his unlawful ordeal, ORDERED by the reigning regime of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has been ruling with the heavy handedness of irredeemable dictators.
In a write up he made from his place of detention, the professor of Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation disclosed that, “I have felt the haunting presence of the state stalking me since I started publicly criticising the policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government that have been inflicting unbearable hardships on Nigerians.
“I know it to be true that security agents have been physically and electronically tracking my family and I, on the orders of this government. I was invited to Bauchi to chair the maiden summit of ‘Tafiyar Matasan Arewa’, a Northern Youth Movement with branches in all 19 Northern states.
“The summit theme was the role of youths in nation-building. Most speakers spoke in Hausa, but I communicated in both Hausa and English to reach a wider audience. I called on the youths to wake up and take their destinies in their hands because nations are built by the youths, not the aged”.
A trending video on social media wondered why someone who severally reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) scams worth billions of naira, which were recovered, admitted and acknowledged by then Chairman of the anti graft agency, Ibrahim Magu, would end up ‘shortchanging’ government of a mere N1 million, during his tenure as the Managing Director/CEO of the Nigerian Health Insurance Service (NIHS).
The unidentified speaker in the video concluded by ascertaining that the arrest, and deliberate delay by the EFCC to appear in court to respond to the bail application by the distinguished professor, was nothing but a politically motivated vindictiveness.
Former Minister of Education, Ezekwelisi Oby Z. Ezekwelisi, made an even more indicting claim of endemic corruption in the Tinubu regime in a widely publicised statement, captured in a trending video clip. She said she was a corruption free person, who refused to collect even the monthly imprest allocated to her during her time as minister. She dared anyone to prove her wrong, mentioning the name of the then Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Abu Kizawa, to drive home her claim.
She should therefore be arrested, detained and be prosecuted since the former minister has spoken against the Tinubu regime in a more offensive and condescending manner than Professor Yusuf’s.
Even the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Presidential Candidate in the 2023 election, had said that the regime of “President Tinubu is using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fight the opposition, instead of addressing the corruption ravaging the country”.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar alleged that Tinubu’s regime had selectively targeted political opponents, while turning a blind eye to the corruption within its own ranks. It is his belief that “true anti-corruption fight should be transparent and impartial, but not motivated by politics”. He should also be arrested, detained and tried for making the statement.
In a previous article, ‘ Professor Usman’s ‘Crime’ Against President Tinubu’s ‘Magnanimous’ Administration’, which I wrote on 6th January, 2025, I noted that , “His crime was his attempt to reduce the rot which has gone very deep into the NHIS, and appeared to be increasing in leaps and bounds, for which he therefore appeared a serious threat to the interests of some powerful individuals, many of them still calling the shots in the present administration.
“His ouster from the organisation and the subsequent adversities that he and the region he comes from, have been going through since then, is definitely CORRUPTION fighting back against them, with a very strong approval and support of the CORRUPT leader of the country.
“Otherwise, the detention that the brilliant professor is subjected to, should also be mated to the many known corrupt people in the present regime. But because they are the same people behind the ordeals, who happen to belong to the cabal of rogues, who ONLY care for themselves, their immediate family and the sycophants that surround them all the time.
Meanwhile, it would however appear that, ‘The man died’ in Professor Wole Soyinka, and his fellow tribal rabble rousers, who are quite loud by their disturbing silence, in the face of the runaway corruption under the leadership of their tribesman, President Tinubu.
The Nigerian crusaders, who were quick to mount the podium, write media statements or even physically lead protests whenever they felt a government led by a Northerner was becoming ‘dictatorial in its conduct’, are today very quiet because it is EMILOKAN, as proclaimed by then Presidential candidate Senator Bola Tinubu.
But real social crusaders like Barrister Bulama Bukarti, former Minister Solomon Dalung, the Ordinary President, Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, Dr. Garuz Gololo, and Dan Bello, among others, do not consider your religion, your ethnicity or your region, they just go in the forefront and fight for you if you get an unfair deal from the authorities. Professor Usman is certainly being treated unfairly by the government, for saying the fact that all sincere citizens are aware of, but which the Tinubu regime does not want to be told, to the hearing of the world.
Professor Usman Yusuf should regain his freedom from his detention unconditionally and without further delay, since he has not violated any laws of the land. There are thousand Professor Yusufs in the country, who daily complain of the massive CORRUPTION, poverty and hunger that have become daily challenges in Nigeria under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The president’s hobby is to accumulate illegal wealth, but his hatred is being told the naked truth.
May God rid us from the evil ones, whose stoke-in-trade is to mislead. They pretend to be with the oppressed, whereas down in their hearts they have only hatred or deliberate mischief for others. Claim to false conscience is a deceit of the highest degree.
Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.
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