A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Segun Sowunmi, has said that President Bola Tinubu should be blamed for the stiff opposition that has greeted the tax reform bills introduced by his administration.
He faulted President Tinubu for appointing Yorubas as finance minister, revenue boss, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and tax reform chair.
Sowunmi pointed out that the tax reform bills were good, but added that Tinubu created distrust among northerners by excluding their kinsmen from his economic and tax teams.
“They (Tinubu and his team) created it by themselves. You can’t have FIRS chairman Yoruba, finance (minister) Yoruba, Customs (boss) Yoruba, CBN (governor) Yoruba. You can’t do that,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“And then suddenly, the Yoruba people came and said we have a new tax regime. They (people of other tribes) will be nervous.
“People are not in the National Assembly or the Senate not to protect the interest of their people; that’s why they are there. They are representatives of their people. That’s why the push backs will come,” he added.
According to the politician, there is no bill without grey areas but the current administration “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.
DAILY POST reports that the bills have generated a lot of reactions from Nigerians.
It has enveloped in widespread controversy and sparked scathing criticisms and stiff opposition, especially from the northern part of the country.
Tax Reform: Tinubu responsible for stiff opposition to bills – Segun Sowunmi