Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s
administration of weaponising the EFCC to silence him, alleging he was treated
like a criminal for criticising the government.
Speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Sunday,
Yusuf alleged that his recent detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) was part of a deliberate attempt to silence him. “This
government deliberately denied me bail to shake me up… all to try and silence
me. But I am not someone who can be silenced,” he said.
In February, the EFCC arraigned Yusuf before the Federal
Capital Territory High Court on a five-count charge of alleged fraud. He
pleaded not guilty.
Recounting the events that led to his detention, Yusuf said
EFCC operatives stormed his home on 29 January without presenting an arrest
warrant. “They walked into the house and said they wanted to see me, claiming I
was expecting them. They only later showed their badges,” he said.
He described how the operatives prevented him from changing
clothes and blocked his wife from providing him with alternative clothing.
Yusuf also recounted how, during transport, officers treated him “as if they
had captured a notorious criminal like Kachalla Bello Turji,” a notorious
bandit leader.
Yusuf spent six days in EFCC custody before his arraignment
and was subsequently denied bail, a move he said was unconstitutional. “Bail is
a constitutionally guaranteed right for any accused person, except in cases of
capital offences or terrorism, and my case was neither,” he said.
The denial of bail forced Yusuf to spend an additional 24
days at Kuje Prison. He characterised his imprisonment as a period of “retreat
for rest, prayers, and reflection,” insisting it only strengthened his spirit.
“The whole purpose was for the government of President Bola
Tinubu to try to silence any form of dissent,” Yusuf said. “This is coming from
a president who himself was once a NADECO activist — someone who fought against
the military dictatorship.”
He warned that the current administration is attempting to
stifle democratic criticism and create a “one-party dictatorial state.”
Yusuf was appointed executive secretary of the NHIS in 2016
by former President Muhammadu Buhari. He was suspended in 2017 and again in
2018 by the health minister and the NHIS board over allegations of corruption,
and was eventually removed from office in 2019.
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