Melaye Warns FG: Arrest Atiku and Face Mass Resistance

Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has issued a blunt warning to the Federal Government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), threatening mass mobilisation if the agency invites, arrests or interrogates African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar over a fresh corruption petition.

In a video posted on his X account on Friday, Melaye described the petition as frivolous and declared that the ADC and its supporters would demonstrate the power of ordinary Nigerians should authorities move against the former vice-president.

“This is our note of warning. If due to these frivolous petitions you invite, arrest or interview Atiku Abubakar, and we are not saying it with fear or favour, we will prove to you that those in government are less than one percent of the population of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We will prove to you that the people own government,” Melaye said.

The warning follows a petition submitted to the EFCC by former House of Representatives member Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, a one-time Code of Conduct Bureau official. The petition, signed by his lawyer Hannibal Egbe Uwaifo, SAN, of Sagitarian Law Firm and dated August 27, was received at the EFCC chairman’s office on September 1. It gave the commission a 14-day window to act and urged it to reopen and prosecute allegations against Atiku dating back to his time as vice-president under Olusegun Obasanjo.

The claims centre on investigations conducted in 2005 and 2006 by the EFCC and an administrative panel into alleged abuse of office, money laundering and diversion of funds linked to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). Some reports put the sum involved at around $135 million. Atiku, who was vice-president at the time, consistently denied wrongdoing and insisted the probes were politically motivated amid his bitter fallout with Obasanjo over the latter’s failed third-term bid.

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On December 20, 2006, a Lagos State High Court set aside the EFCC’s administrative indictment against Atiku, describing it as unconstitutional and flawed. No criminal conviction ever resulted from the allegations. Agbonayinma’s petition argues that promised prosecution after Atiku left office never materialised, citing both the 2006 EFCC report and a later US Senate subcommittee document, and calls for the matters to be reactivated.

Atiku has dismissed the renewed push as recycled political attacks. In a recent statement, he noted that the allegations were thoroughly examined by the EFCC, an administrative panel, the National Assembly and the courts during a period of intense political hostility, yet no conviction followed. He challenged anyone with credible new evidence to present it in court and argued that state institutions must not be turned into tools for settling political scores ahead of the 2027 elections.

Sources close to the EFCC have suggested the commission may be reluctant to reopen the decades-old matter so close to the polls, citing the risk of it being seen as a witch-hunt. As of Friday evening, there was no confirmation that the agency had taken any formal step to invite or question Atiku over the petition.

Melaye, a prominent ADC figure and vocal Atiku supporter, framed the development as an attempt to intimidate the opposition. His intervention underscores the rising political temperature as parties position themselves for the 2027 general elections, with Atiku as the ADC’s flagbearer.