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Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance (NHIS) scheme, Professor Usman Yusuf, has leveled a serious accusation of the government of the Tinubu Bola President, accusing the weapons of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to reduce different votes.
Yusuf claimed he was treated like an ordinary criminal in an effort to silence his criticism of the government.
In an interview that aired on Arise television on Sunday, Yusuf detailed his detention recently by EFCC, who stated, “This government deliberately denied me guarantees to shake me … all to try and silence me. But I am not someone who can be silenced.”
EFCC has charged Joseph before the Federal Capital High Court in February on the accusations of five alleged fraud count, which he claimed to be innocent.
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According to the event that led to his detention, Yusuf accused that the EFCC operators invaded his residence on January 29 without a warrant. “They walked to the house and said they wanted to see me, claiming I was expecting them. They only later showed their badge,” he said.
He described the behavior of the operators as unnecessary hard, claiming they prevented him changing clothes and blocking his wife from giving him alternative clothes. Yusuf also recounted transportation to detention, stated that officers treated him “as if they had captured famous criminals such as Kachalla Bello Turji,” a famous bandit leader.
Yusuf spent six days in EFCC detention before his appearance in court, and was then rejected by guarantee. He believes this rejection is not constitutional. “Guarantee is a constitutional guaranteed right for everyone who is accused, except in the case of capital violations or terrorism, and my case is also not,” he said.
As a result of rejected guarantees, Joseph spent 24 additional days in Kuje prison. He described the prison sentence as a period of “retreats for rest, prayer, and reflection,” and stated that the experience only strengthened his determination.
“All goals are so that the Government of the President of the Tinubu Soccer tries to silence all forms of differences of opinion,” Yusuf’s guess. “This comes from a president who was once an activist Nadeco – someone who fought against military dictatorship.” He warned that the current government is trying to hamper democratic criticism and build “a dictatorial state of one party.”
Yusuf’s term of office as NHIS’s executive secretary, who began in 2016, under the former President of Muhammadu Buhari, was tainted by controversy. He was suspended in 2017 and again in 2018 by the Minister of Health and the NHIS Council on corruption accusations, and was finally deleted from the office in 2019.
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