Governor of Bauchi state Bala Mohammed has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to abandon his Tax Reform policy or face ‘anarchy’. The governor spoke when he received the Christian Community in the state in the Government House on Thursday.
The governor urged the president to listen to Nigerians who have rejected the tax refrom bill because it’s unpopular. According to the state governor, the presidency is carrying on with the issue despite its rejection by many Nigerians, as if the country is under an oligarchy government.
He accused the president of not listening to Nigerians on the issue, saying government should be about the people, noting that the controversial bill is against the interest of ‘northern Nigeria’.
The magazine reports that serious controversy has trailed the Tax Reform Bill sent to the National Assembly in August by President Tinubu.
Instructively, political and religious leaders in the northern part of the country have expressed strong opposition to the proposed law, even when the Presidency insist that it will press ahead with it.
According to Mohammed, the presidency must abandon the policy or face the ‘true colour’ of the people of the north, who he said are not prepared to keep silent as the bill has been designed to favour a section of the country.
He said if the proposed tax reform policy is allowed to stand, there will be no money to pay ‘salaries’ or construct “roads’ , warning that the presiency “must listen, otherwise, they are calling for anarchy.”
Part of what he said, “I call on you to pray for Nigeria and pray for all the leaders of Nigeria including my humble self because Nigeria needs prayers. We are facing difficulties. There is a lot of wahala, there is a lot of hunger and it is something that we have to pray for God to obliterate. We have to say it but certainly, we are not insulting anybody.
“We are calling on the presidency and the Federal Government to change their style. Whenever a policy is not popular, they should listen to the people, they should not be arrogant and think that whatever we bring, must be. This is not an oligarchy, this is not a military rule, they must listen to the people and that is what makes a good leader.
“And we pledge to be loyal to them but anything they are doing contrary to that, they are calling for anarchy, they are calling for intransigence and it is unacceptable. There are a lot of wahala, we must work together across the party lines, across the tiers of government to provide succour and solace to the Nigerian people.”
Mohammed further said: “It is not about pride or ego, we must be able to do things that people will be assisted with because whatever it is, the situation was not like this before. If the situation was bad before I came, tell me! And I must change and that is why the presidency must listen to the cries about Tax Reform.
“It is not a good policy for northern Nigeria because we are not going to get money to pay you salaries, to do roads. They must listen, otherwise, they are calling for anarchy. And that is not good.
“We voted for the presidency in this State and other states, they must listen to us. They must not come up with policies that favour only one section of the country or even one state in the country. It is not about religion, it is not about tribe, it is about national unity, it is about national hegemony and this is what we are all about, good leadership.
“We will continue to be loyal for the time being, if the situation persists, they will see our real colour, we are going to fight for it.
“We are not afraid of them, even if it’s the President, we are not afraid of them, except that we only show respect. Whether it is a traditional institution, or it is the Federal Government or it is the President, honestly, we are not afraid of them but we can only show our obedience and respect to leadership. But we will not allow anyone to denigrate us.
“People are suffering and are hungry. They need to look at their leadership style. Leadership is listening to the people and being sensitive to their feelings, leadership is doing what the people want. But I appeal to you (Nigerians) that since we’ve endured to this point, we should continue to be more patient because living in peace is what we need.
“We should continue to pray for the President and his government that God will make them listen, may God make them change their minds and policies in a way that will be beneficial to all Nigerians, in a way that will drive away hunger, the insults, insecurity and all the things they want to bring that will cause division among Nigerians,” he stated.
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