Professor Babagana Zulum, the governor of Borno state, has once again spoken out against the Tinubu-led administration’s controversial tax reform bills, claiming that only Lagos and Rivers will benefit from them.
The governor revealed this during his appearance on Channels Television Friday night, December 1.
“On this tax issue, there are a lot of misconceptions. We felt that the VAT provision in the tax law. Based on the calculations that we did, only Lagos and Rivers States will benefit from this scheme. We did our own research and conclude that we would lose.
“Why are we in a rush? We advised the Federal Government to take a pause, and expunge some of the clauses that are inimical to not only Northern Nigeria.
“What we are saying is that give more time, let us do a deeper consultation to understand the nitty-gritty of this tax regime before passing it into law.” he said.
Zulum clarified that only Lagos State would be the primary beneficiary of the scheme, meaning other states would be shortchanged if the measure passed the National Assembly. The governor stated that he was among the few governors who advocated for a rotation of power to the south prior to the general election in 2023. He maintained that since Northern Nigeria accounted for more than 60% of Tinubu’s votes in the general elections of 2023, the region could not be against him.
He claimed that some people were spreading the unfavorable idea that Tinubu’s government is opposed in the north.
“I am a strong member of APC. If you can count two governors before 2019 and 2023 that were in support of Tinubu, you can mention Governor Zulum. I was the first governor to come out publicly and say that power must go to the South. Unfortunately, the President was told by many that the North are against him. 60.2 per cent of his votes came from the North,” he added.
