Tax Bill: Paid Agents Trying To set North Against Tinubu

Reno Omokri, a former Presidential aide says the anger in the northern part of the country over the Tax Reform Bill is not an attack on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

According to him, the reactions from the other parts of the country against the leaders of the north who have spoken against the controversial bill is unjustified, condidering that the region played a huge role in the election of President Tinubu last year.

The magazine reported that the tax bill sent by the President Tinubu to the National Assembly in September has been trailed with mixed reactions from Nigerians, between those who have endorsed it in the southern Nigeria and those who opposed it in the north.

Key religious and government officials  from the northern part of the country, such as the Northern Governors Forum, NGF, have openly criticized the Tax Bill which they said will short change the region in terms of sharing of resources.

Leaders from the south have fought back, accusing the north for trying to hold other parts of the country into ransom for their allege selfish interest.

Reacting to the clash across the regions, Omokri, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan said the bill should not be allowed  to divide the country.

He also explained that the north does not hate the president contrary to some suggestions, considering that the region played a huge role in his ascension to power. Tinubu could not have become president without the support he received form the region during the contested 2023 Presidential election, according to the social critic.

Apart from Tinubu, other southern leaders who had contested the presidency in the past including the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola- the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election, and General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) received huge support from the region, at the expense of candidates from the region who also contested.

The statement said in part: “Northern Nigeria is the only region in Nigeria that has given majority votes to a non-Northerner in an election where a fellow Northerner was a major candidate. Not an ‘I also contested’. I mean a major candidate with a realistic chance of victory.

“They have done it twice and each of those times, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu played a significant role.

“On June 12, 1993, Chief Moshood Abiola won in most Northern states, including Kano, where he got 52.3% of the votes to Bashir Tofa’s 47.7%. Incidentally, Tofa was from Kano.

“Chief Abiola also won in Kaduna, with 52.2% of the votes, Jigawa, with a stunning 60.7%, Borno, with 54.4%, and Yobe, with an overwhelming 63.6.%.

“In all, Chief Abiola won in nine out of sixteen Northern States.

“The second time this occurred was on Saturday, February 25, 2023, when President Tinubu secured 2,652,824 votes from the Northwest, which is more than three hundred thousand votes above the 2,279,407 he got from the Southwest.

“That meant that the President won the election in the Northwest by 39.64% of the votes. He also polled 1,760,993 votes in the North-central, making him the winner there with 38.58% of the total votes.

“President Tinubu won the #NigerianElections2023 by winning in the Northwest, North-Central and Southwest. His closest rival, Waziri Atiku Abubakar, won in one region, the Northeast, where he comes from. Peter Obi won in two areas: the Southeast and Southwest-South.

“From the above, any reasonable person can see that the facts do not support the claims flying about that the North hates the President and the Southwest. After all, the best judge of the present and the future is the past. And Arewa has more than proved itself a dependable friend and ally of the Southwest.

“Northerners are not cowards. They do not vote for who they do not support.

“That is why I urge all Nigerians to be aware of the fact that there is actually a large-scale false flag operation on social media, where certain persons have created multiple fake profiles to set the North, especially the core North, against the Southwest by promoting fake theories, such as that the Tax Reform Bill is anti-North and the North is anti-Tinubu. “

Following the calls for more consultations, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been directed by the president  to meet the NAS to iron out the contested areas.

The NASS had earlier suspended debate over the issue to allow  for robust consultations among key stakeholders in the country.