Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has warned that democracy cannot survive if state institutions are used to target political opponents. Atiku made the remark while reacting to the freezing of the Osun State Government’s statutory allocation account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) just days before the state’s governorship election. “The selective and politically convenient deployment of state institutions diminishes public trust and weakens the democratic order. He argued that freezing the state’s allocation account would ultimately hurt ordinary residents by affecting salaries, public services and day-to-day governance. He also urged opposition parties and Nigerians to defend democracy against what he described as the growing use of state institutions for political purposes.