A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Sowunmi, says President Bola Tinubu caused the pushbacks currently witnessed with concern to the tax bills introduced by his administration.
While he acknowledged that the tax bills were good, he alluded to the fact that the President caused distrust among northerners by excluding their kinsmen from his tax team.
Sowunmi, who was a guest on a television program, accused the president of appointing his tribesmen as finance minister, revenue boss, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and tax reform chair.
The PDP chieftain said that though the tax bills were good, the president created distrust among northerners by allegedly excluding their kinsmen from his economic and tax teams.
Sowunmi said, “They (Tinubu and his team) created it by themselves. You can’t have FIRS chairman Yoruba, finance (minister) Yoruba, Customs (boss) Yoruba, and CBN (governor) Yoruba. You can’t do that. And then suddenly, the Yoruba people came and said we have a new tax regime. They (people of other tribes) will be nervous.
“The National Assembly and the Senate are there to safeguard the interests of their constituents; it is their primary purpose. They serve as their people’s spokesmen. Pushbacks will therefore occur.”
He said there is no bill without grey areas, but the Tinubu government “caused it by itself.”
“You may mean well, but let me have some of my own seated at the table to be sure that you mean well. Nobody will sit at the table and cause injury to his tribe,” he said.
The Tinubu administration’s new tax proposals have been the subject of intense controversy, harsh criticism, and strong opposition from several people, including the 36 state governors who are members of the National Economic Council (NEC). Sections of the proposals have also been categorically rejected by the 19 governors in northern Nigeria.
Sowunmi said, “I think the president needs to tell them in very clear language that I won’t be sitting here as president and refusing to do the right thing for the country only because you want to threaten me with elections. When we get to the bridge of election, we will cross it.”
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