₦airaland Forum

Sharia court will be established in southwest and heaven won’t fall. You can’t do anything to stop it

I congratulate Reno Omokri on being named among the most talked-about persons on the African continent for 2024, as announced by Charts Africa using Google algorithms.

This recognition affirms his very vocal and patriotic promotion of Nigerian culture and peaceful religious and ethnic coexistence in Africa.

I look forward to Mr. Omokri continuing to use his voice to project Nigeria in positive light in the new year.

Congratulations, Mr. Omokri

Upset at the fact that I was rated the 21st most talked about person on the African continent, Obidients, led by one Harvey Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya, have been adding 'Readers context' to congratulatory messages to me by prominent Nigerians, including the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Dr. Doyin Okupe, Wale Ojo, and many others, claiming that I was not in the list, and adding this link topchartsafrica.com/social-charts/ as well as a screenshot.

This is the typical of Peter Obi and his Obidients. @topchartsafrica actually publishes a list of the most talked about people in Africa every month, and at the end of the year, they publish the list of the most talked about Africans for the year.

What these Obidients have done is to get last month's list and link of the most talked about Africans FOR THE MONTH of NOVEMBER 2024 and publish it as the ANNUAL list and link. If you click on their link or look at their screenshot, you will notice that it was published on November 5, 2024.

In contrast, the list of the most talked about Africans for the ENTIRE YEAR of 2024 was published on December 19, 2024. Please see x.com/topchartsafric…

The list is published by Top Charts using Google trends and journalists can contact Top Charts directly to 'go and verify' (to use a popular Obidient catch phrase) via their social media accounts, which also has Top Charts's street address. Just send them a DM or an email.

The annual list has also been published by Statisense x.com/statisense/sta…, Africa Facts Zone x.com/africafactszon…, Daily Post, dailypost.ng/2024/12/22/wiz…., Legit legit.ng/entertainment/…, and others.

But it is good that they continue to talk about me. Maybe through them, I will again make the list of the Most Talked About Africans again in 2025, God sparing my life.

Please help share this and comment widely to counter their fake news.

I congratulate my friend and brother on being included in the Top Charts' list of the thirty most talked-about people in Africa for 2024 using Google Trends. At number twenty-one on the index, you have shown that speaking positively about your country can take you further and give you more influence than using your platform to magnify the negative. You are a brand ambassador for Nigeria, and this could not have happened to a better person.

I am so proud of you my dearest aburo @renoomokri. Through thick and thin you have stood for your beliefs and have defended our beloved nation. This is a well-earned and well-deserved accolade. May God continue to be with you and may He continue to use, bless and protect you.

After COVID-19, the quality of food served at parties and ceremonies, popularly known as owambes in local parlance, reduced significantly.

Before then, guests were served with assorted food including jollof rice and swallows.

But, COVID reduced the choice to either or even none, in some cases.

However, if COVID-19 dents the Owambe lifestyle of Nigerians, the present economic condition has worsened it.

Now, the size and types of drinks, food portions, venues, aso ebis, among other things that accompany an owambe have changed shape.

The latest change is the serving of agbo Jedi and libido booster herbs at parties.

Agbo Jedi, a Yoruba word used to describe a less expensive herb meant for the treatment of piles, is mainly used in households and rarely found in parties.

Economy & lifestyle discovered that herbs for pile treatment and libido boosters have now joined the collection of drinks served at Owambes.

According to Mrs. Habibat Jolaosho, a businesswoman whose daughter just got married. She served agbo Jedi and libido boosters at her daughter’s wedding recently to cut the cost of drinks.

“Everyone knows that the cost of buying a pack of soft drinks, beer and alcoholic wine is very expensive.
“Even water is no go area now.

“Having a mini party of 100 guests will cost over N1 million naira today.

“So I had to add agbo Jedi and libido booster herb to cut cost on drinks served at my daughter’s wedding recently.

“Some people even serve zobo(hibiscus flower) drinks and palm wine at parties to cut costs on soft drinks and beer.

“The agbo Jedi usually comes in an alcoholic form which makes it less different from alcoholic drinks.”

A market survey of various soft drinks and beer prices in the market showed that the cost of drinks have increased tremendously.

The price of a pack of soft drink depending on the brand is now N4500 to N5,000 from N2,000 it was sold before.

Similarly, the price of a pack of canned malt is now sold at N16,000 above while that of beer is sold at over N18,000 when compared to the price before.

Further investigations showed that some guests have embraced the innovation while some see it as bizarre.

Mr. Folahanmi Jegede, a businessman said he has taken agbo Jedi in a recent party and welcomed the innovation.

“Nowadays, you drink and eat a variety of foods and drinks at parties.

“These hosts due to the high costs of food items and drinks have resorted to organizing their parties at the same time cutting costs.

“Before, no one would serve you agbo Jedi in a party. People look forward to having soft drinks, beer and wine at parties.

“Food like yam porridge, beans, rice, and yam flour swallow are foods people eat at parties.
“But today, you hardly get these variety of food in most owambes.

“All you can eat is rice and semovita or yam flour.

“Some even serve garri and groundnut or fish, corn and coconut or pear.

“So the introduction of agbo Jedi and libido booster herb as drinks in parties is a win-win for many who love taking these sachet gins, and plastic alcoholic drinks.”

Mrs. Vhiode Sesinu, a fashion designer, said she has also witnessed agbo Jedi being served in parties.
“I am a party lover and have attended up to ten parties this year.

“Many of which various kinds of drinks including this agbo Jedi and libido booster are served.
“For me, I see it as unhealthy to drink what I don’t know the content of.

“Many men were drinking agbo Jedi and libido booster , especially those who love alcohol.
“Women were also taking these drinks.

“For me, I can take zobo, tiger nut drinks and palm wine at parties.

“Many hosts are starting to include various less expensive food and drinks actually eaten at home in parties menus to cut costs”

forgiveness:
I trust Omokri to give rebuttal.

Kemi Badenoch, current leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, recently disavowed her Nigerian identity because of her resentment at being associated with northern Nigeria. “Being Yoruba is my true identity,” she said, “and I refuse to be lumped with northern people of Nigeria, who ‘were our ethnic enemies,’ all in the name of being called Nigerian.”

I can bet my bottom dollar that most northern Nigerians are uninterested in any claim to kinship with her, either.

Well, since Ms. Badenoch hates northern Nigeria that much, she might also consider rejecting even the term Yoruba, as it originates from—of all places—northern Nigeria!

“Yoruba” is, after all, an exonym first bestowed upon the Oyo people by their northern neighbors, the Baatonu (Bariba) of Borgu, before it was shared with the Songhai (whose scholar by the name of Ahmad Baba has the distinction of being the first person to mention the name in print as “Yoruba” in his 1613 essay titled “Al-kashf wa-l-bayān li-aṣnāfmajlūb al-Sūdān”).

Usman Dan Fodio’s son, Muhammad Bello, wrote Infaq al-mansur in 1813, which responded to Ahmad Baba’s 1613 essay. In it, he had cause to also mention “Yoruba.”

The name’s embrace as a collective identifier owes debts to these historical facts. In other words, Yoruba is not a Yoruba word. It traces etymological descent from northern Nigerians, Badenoch’s “ethnic enemies.”

Perhaps Badenoch would prefer to invent an ethnic moniker akin to Professor Wole Soyinka’s deftly coined Ijegba (a seamless blend of Ijebu and Egba identities). She might consider Ijendo, an elegant portmanteau uniting her maternal Ijebu roots with her paternal Ondo lineage.

It would, at least, shield her from the burden of bearing an identity whose label comes from her “enemies.”

Yet even with this rhetorical sleight of hand, Badenoch cannot outrun the stubborn truth that the historical, cultural, and sociolinguistic ties between northern Nigerians and Yoruba people are irrefutable. These connections run deep and are impervious to political grandstanding or identity cherry-picking.

In a column I wrote on October 9, 2021, titled “Arewa and Oduduwa: More Alike Than Unlike,” I explored this shared legacy. I reproduce some of that original column below as a reminder.

Centuries before colonialism and the British-supervised formation of Nigeria, much of what we know today as northern and western Nigeria have had robust relational and cultural encounters, evidence of which still endures in the contemporary linguistic and cultural artifacts of the people.

The centuries-long Trans-Saharan Trade between the Arab world and so-called Sub-Saharan Africa, which passed through much of what is now northern and western Nigeria between the eight and the seventeenth centuries, brought traces of Islam and cultural interchanges in both places.

Thereafter, both regions witnessed massive migrations of the Mande people from the Mali empire who brought more concentrated expressions of Islam—and monarchies. That is why much of what used to be the Oyo empire was actually ethnically syncretic.

Historians have shown that people that are today known as northern Nigerians played central roles in precolonial Yoruba history. For example, the Bashorun (whom many people equate to the Prime Minister and de facto power behind the throne) was often of Borgu descent, and the Alapinni, another high-ranking official, traced his origins to the Nupe people.

Well-regarded bashoruns like Magaji, Worudua, Biri, Yamba, Jambu, and Gaa who helped extend Oyo’s frontiers were of Borgu origin.

More than that, several towns and villages in Oyo were founded by Borgu people. For instance, Ogbomoso, a major Oyo town, was founded by a Baatonu (Bariba) prince. The title of the town’s monarch, “Soun,” is a corruption of “Suno,” the Baatonu word for king.

Yoruba sometimes swallows middle consonants over time, which explains why "olorun" sometimes becomes "olo'un," why even "Yoruba" (itself a foreign word derived from the Baatonu) becomes "Yo'oba" in everyday speech, etc. On this model, the "n" in "suno" was swallowed to produce "suon," which later became "soun" after the transposition of the "o" and "u" vowels in the word.

Kishi, another major town in Oyo State, was founded by a Borgu prince by the name of Kilishi Yeruma. Kilishi is the Hausa word for rug (which symbolizes the throne) and Yeruma is the corruption of the Kanuri “yerima,” which means prince. But “Kilishi Yeruma” is a fossilized, time-honored title in all of Borgu, which is a cultural melting pot, for the heir apparent to the throne.

In fact, I was shocked to read recently that even Ibadan, the administrative capital of Western Nigeria, was founded by a northern Nigerian of Borgu origins. Oluyole, the founder of modern Ibadan, was the scion of Bashorun Yau Yamba, who was of Borgu ancestry.

As a matter of fact, the town of Igboho whose son, Sunday Igboho, has become the symbol of “Yoruba nation” and who has thrown his weight behind Badenoch’s claim of being Yoruba who has no connection to northern Nigeria, is ethnically syncretic.

Apart from the large number of Fulani people in and around the town who have lived there for centuries, some of whom have become culturally and linguistically Yoruba, there is a major neighborhood there called Boni. Boni is the generic Borgu birth-order name for the fourth son.

Historical accounts also reveal that during the Trans-Saharan Trade, many Hausa people worked as intermediaries between Arab traders and the Alaafin of Oyo. Most didn’t return to their places of birth, and their descendants are now Yoruba people.

Similarly, we read from the late Professor Abdullahi Smith’s account of the tiff between Afonja and the Alaafin of Oyo that a large chunk of Afonja’s army, called the Jama’a, was drawn from Hausa slaves who escaped from the Alaafin’s palace.

And the Fulani presence in Yoruba land preceded the coming of Mu’alim “Alimi” Salihu to Ilorin by several decades, perhaps centuries. As I pointed out in a past column titled “Ilorin is an Ethnogenesis: Response to Kawu’s Anti-Saraki Ilorin Purism,” some of Afonja’s followers, with whom he fought the Alaafin, according to Abdullahi Smith who quoted the Ta’alif, a pamphlet written in Arabic by an Ilorin Yoruba Muslim cleric about the events of the time shortly after they occurred, were Fulani pastoralists who were never Muslims.

The pastoralists had lost their cattle to tsetse fly bites and “had nothing to lose,” according to Smith, so they became Afonja’s mercenaries.

One of the Fulani pastoralists whom Alimi couldn’t convert to Islam, was a man named Ibrahim Olufade who spoke perfect Yoruba and Fulfulde and acted as the interpreter for Afonja in his initial interactions with Alimi.

In other words, Fulani people had been bearing Yoruba names in Yorubaland at least a century before Nigeria was formed. I won’t be surprised if descendants of Ibrahim Olufade are now Yoruba (nationalists)— if they are in western Nigeria.

My hunch has some basis in real-life examples. One of northern Nigeria’s most celebrated journalists, the late Hajia Bilikisu Yusuf, was descended from Yoruba people who migrated to Kano generations ago. She was one of the most passionate defenders of Arewa that I know.

When the late Mohammed Sule, author of the famous The Undesirable Element in the Pacesetter Series, told me of Hajia Bilikisu’s Yoruba background in Kaduna in the late 1990s, I was incredulous. But he said they were neighbors in Kano and swore that Hajia Bilikisu’s grandfather still spoke Yoruba.

The ancestors of the late Professor Ibrahim Ayagi of Kano were Yoruba. As he himself told the Daily Trust on September 2, 2018, “Unguwar Ayagi was initially inhabited by the Yoruba and Nupawa, who came from outside and settled here. That’s how the place became known as Ayagi. So most of the people in Ayagi are Yoruba, Nupe and, of course, Hausa.”

Given this depth and breadth of relational interconnectedness, it is no surprise that northern and western Nigeria share an extensive repertoire of cultural vocabularies that are derived from Arabic, Songhai (because the Malians who brought Islam to Hausa land, Borgu, and Yorubaland abandoned their language and spoke a dialect of Songhai called Dendi), and mutual borrowings.

I will give a few examples. In both Yoruba land and Borgu, the term from an unmarried girl is some version of the word “wondia.” That’s a Songhai word for an unmarried girl.

“Bere,” a title of respect prefixed to the names of older people in Borgu and parts of Yoruba land, is a Songhai word. The word “karambani,” which I was shocked to find out occurs in Yoruba, is a Songhai word that is now integral to the lexis of many languages in Borgu.

Asiri, the word for secret in Hausa, Yoruba, Kanuri, Baatonu, and many other languages in Muslim northern Nigeria, is derived from the Arabic “as-sirr” where it also means “secret.”

Wahala, which used to be limited to Yoruba and languages in Muslim northern Nigeria, but which is now widely used all over Nigeria, is derived from the Arabic “wahla,” which means “fright,” “terror.”

Yoruba and most languages in Muslim northern Nigeria also use “talaka” (talika in Yoruba) to refer to the poor. The word also appears in Mandinka, Songhai languages, Teda, and in other West African polities where Islam is predominant.

History is rarely as malleable as we would like, and identity, once examined, often reveals far more connection than division.

If Badenoch truly fancies herself as Yoruba, she'd be wise not to rattle the ancestral tree; she might be startled by just how much Northern Nigeria comes tumbling out of its branches.

Would you trust me with your money?

ABUJA: Soldiers reportedly acting on the orders of an army general on Wednesday attacked development control officials who were in Sabon Lugbe, Abuja, to remove some illegal structures in the area.

The officials were in the area to remove the fence of a building on Plot 416 said to belong to one Major General.

An official of the department narrated their ordeal this way; “During this operation, there was an incident that happened at Plot 416 Sabon Lugbe that belongs a Major General.

“When the removal was going on, the Major General got information of the removal. He sent two soldiers to his house to ascertain the situation.

On getting to the scene, the soldiers who drove the covered number plate vehicle blocked the way out of the house to prevent the enforcement team from coming out of the premises; threatening that somebody must die today.

“Private Jamilu (surname unknown) went straight to the caterpillar operator, cocked his rifle and pointed straight to him to come down or risk being shot immediately.

“He politely came down but was grabbed by the two soldiers who squeezed his neck with his clothes, beat him mercilessly and tore his shirt.

“Private Jamilu pulled his rifle and fired the four tyres of the caterpillar flat. He then called the Major General to come along with more soldiers for re-enforcement, and he came with them in numbers.

“He ordered his men to take Sector Sodangi and his site officer to his house, beat them even right from outside alongside six enforcement officials who where also taken hostage for hours.

“Three Hilux vehicles were taken to the Major General’s house while the remaining vehicles that they could not lay hands on had their tyres flattened with gun shots.

“On receiving the information, the DPO Trademore came to the scene but the Major General refused to take compliments nor listen to her. She left and said she would come back.

Tinubu went to France, the French Government collapsed

German President came to Abuja, German Government collapsed!

Tinubu effects part 2 😆 🤣

Tpain, the slayer of Europe.

#FreeOlamide #FreeDeleFarotimiNow #FreeOlamideNow #FreeDeleFarotimi #FreeDeleFarotimiNow #FreeOlamide #FreeDeleFarotimi #FreeOlamideNow

German President met with Tinubu and their government collapsed

France President met with Tinubu and their government also collapsed

Tinubu became president and Nigeria collapsed 🤯

Tinubu went to France, and voilà, the French government collapsed! 💥🇫🇷. The German President visited Abuja, and boom, the German government crumbled! 💣🇩🇪.
Dear Tinubu, I humbly plead with you to take a quick trip to Edo State... SOS! 😅🙌

Meanwhile, Here's The Original Video of The Edo State Governor Before It Was Doctored.

Meanwhile, Here's The Original Video of The Edo State Governor Before It Was Doctored. pic.twitter.com/KI35MUsFF9

— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) December 10, 2024

No matter what Peter Obi does henceforth, I will not condemn him or any candidate of the opposition because they are not our problem.

I was expecting to see the naira stabilize at 1400/$, so I can buy more.

Only for me to arrange funds and now, naira don crash back to 1640/$

Tinubu no even fit pump naira for one week.

Yeye govt

Dear Tinubu,

If you want to manipulate market, do it well.

I don already arrange how to get funds to buy dollar, only for me to be seeing 1640/$.

Drop the price to 1200/$, so I can increase my holdings.

What kind of P & D is this?

In your opinion, who between Osinbajo and Peter Obi is best suited to lead Nigeria?

I love Peter Obi but Osinbajo is a material. You can't blame him for Buhari's failure cuz we all know how the system works. The vice does not have a full chance to participate in governance. NJ

If Osibanjo is in any ballot, Peter Obi would not bother to contest.
They both provide an option for something better

Osibanjo by far…he’s not even close to be at Osibanjo level.

Osinbajo is far better than pitobi in terms of leadership qualities

I'm very certain that if Osinbajo was given the APC ticket, we won't have the obedient movement.

Nigeria would be better off with Osinbajo.

I voted Peter Obi but I will give it to PROF OSINBAJO. The Man is a good material as PO but I prefer him.

I wanted APC to give him ticket so that we have him, PO and SOWORE to choose from. At least, any of the two, we are sure of good governance. Alas 🥹🥹🥹🥹

can't accept obi to deputize anyone except osibanjo .... Both are good to go

If you have naira, buy the dollar. A country that is not producing much cannot decieve me again. 😂😂😂😂😂 The dollar wey dey come down go soon go up again. Who be fool?

Checks have shown that Amazon has ranked human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi’s book "Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System" as one of the ‘bestsellers’ on its platform.

This is due to massive demands from Nigerians who are eager to read about how legal luminary, Afe Babalola and other notable personalities were allegedly indicted as having corrupted the country's judicial system.

Oxley Technologies reports that the book is currently being ranked as the 622 best seller on Amazon after the platform recorded massive sales from Nigerians.

“The winner in this debacle btwn Mr Farotimi & Babalola will be Uncle Dele. His book is currently ranked 622 in Amazon Bestseller rankings. This comes with massive amount of sells. They’ve ended up given the book the publicity that wasn’t intended. Uncle Dele’s smiling to the bank,” the platform wrote on X.

Another X user, Due Process Integrity Vanguard said: “Dele Farotimi’s book has skyrocketed to Amazon bestseller status—an incredible overnight success!”

A report also stated that bookstores across the country have started running out of stock of activist Dele Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System, due to the rush in demand for details of Babalola was indicted.

Stores such as Tinu-Ade Bookshop in Ibadan and VIC Bookstore in Abuja told Peoples Gazette on Wednesday that the book had sold out since the arrest of Farotimi preoccupied national headlines.

Farotimi was arrested following a petition by Babalola (SAN).

He was denied bail by the Ekiti State Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday and the trial court ordered that he should be remanded till December 10th, 2024.

The charge suit no: MAD/1,476.C/2024, pits the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police as the complainant against Farotimi as the defendant.

Evening Sabina Nkuru of Enugu State. Apology has been heard, appreciated but rejected. The matter is with the law now. And you’ll discuss with them soon. You can explain your source, and your source can explain their source. Thank you. Do have a rough day.

Your Papa. I’ll use both (police and court). Trend hashtag. Na today Una do am.

Egbon. I once made this promise to you. I am fulfilling it now. Who will they run to? SERAP, Amnesty, Deji? They all know me. Even my father can’t tell me now to push on. The funny thing is I was seconding motion and debating in the House yesterday and have not been in KD in while.

Eyya. Son is bigger than your father not mention of Sons father. Tueh. I’ll deal with her and there’s nothing you can do. Perhaps if your own father had succeeded in anything. You could have. But you can’t. She will show when there was gun fire exchange in my house or rot. You and your ilk can go to hell. Cc: @AmnestyNigeria

Emmanuel Macron’s Government has fallen. Congratulations to pan Africans.

If you love President Tinubu, please don't say anything negative about Arewa or Northerners over this Tax Reform Bill. Never forget that President Tinubu got more votes from Northern Nigeria than from Southern Nigeria. Your job as a supporter of the President is to convince and persuade, not to attack and antagonise. Do not play into the hands of those who want to use this Bill to divide Nigeria.

#TableShaker

TAX REFORM BILLS!

I have been preoccupied for the past week, having attended the World Halal Summit 2024 as a speaker at the invitation of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkiye. Consequently, I couldn't find time to read and review all the 4 bills, including the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024. However, over the last 40 hours, I have been reading them, particularly the Nigeria Tax Administrative Bill.

The bill has the potential to transform tax collection administration if improved and implemented in the national interest. Nevertheless, there are critical observations that need to be addressed, including a potential conflict with the Federal Republic of Nigeria's constitution.

Several sections of the Bill make me uncomfortable, primarily because they lack clear definitions, which could lead to significant challenges during implementation. Furthermore, regulatory bodies may exploit these ambiguities when developing their regulatory instruments.

In light of this, I offer two pieces of advice to the National Assembly (NASS):

i) Suspend Legislative Action for now as some of the challenges could not be addressed by the chambers alone. In leadership, the ability to change one's mind is a sign of intelligence and empathy, not weakness; and

ii) Allow for wider consultations on the bills, ensuring that all relevant stakeholders are contacted and any ambiguities are effectively reviewed and addressed.

Specifically, I recommend reviewing the following sections:

1) Section 3(3)

2) Section 7(6)

3) Section 8(2)

4) Section 23

5) Section 28

6) Sections 95, 96,
97, and 118

7) Section 141 (supremacy clause)

I believe that tax, constitutional, and business lawyers, among others, also have a significant role to play in improving the bills. As a policy researcher, I may also commend on the remaining 3 bills later.

Finally, the government must try to address the mistrust between it and its citizens, as our situation as a nation is deteriorating due to this mistrust. Citizens are largely suspicious. Building trust is crucial at this juncture for all arms and tiers of government. We must also prioritise our national interest over and above our personal interests. Issues must also be discussed objectively and critically.

May we continue to serve our country diligently and honestly, praying to Allah to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), CON

The Tax Reform Bill has been translated into the three major indigenous languages, which are Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. Radio programs in these languages are currently running nationally. Many people do not understand media business. PR dont start or end on social media platforms.

The Northern leaders have allegedly paid all their influencers huge sums of money—I'm talking about 100 million naira and above. From what I heard, the lowest amount collected was 100 million naira.

Let me make this clear: if that bill does not pass, we will all go our separate ways, and you’ll wish you had supported it.

The regional system will be activated automatically. We Yorubas refuse to be part of backwardness. This is the same mindset that made you resist polio vaccines, and we won’t let you drag us down again.

Regionalism activation loading...

The Borno South senator, Ali Ndume, has said he would leave the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), if the leadership of the party allows him.

He said he ought to have left the APC before now but stayed back because of his closeness to President Bola Tinubu and that he doesn’t want the president to fail.

Mr Ndume said this on Thursday when he appeared on Channels Television to discuss his grievances with the tax reform bills proposed by President Tinubu.

“I told you I am very close to Tinubu. I don’t want him to fail and that is why I am taking some of these insults. If not, look, I can leave the party.

“I can leave the party. The party has even given me an offer that I can go if I want. I can apply to them to let me go if they can give me approval and I will go,” he said.

Mr Ndume was removed as Senate Chief Whip in July, following a letter from Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC national chairman, and Basiru Ajibola, the party’s national secretary.

In the letter, the APC leaders referenced an interview Mr Ndume granted where he criticised the Tinubu administration. The party leaders consequently recommended that the Senate relieve him (Ndume) of his position.

The APC also advised Mr Ndume to quit the ruling party if he wishes rather than criticise the administration of a president who is its member.

Mr Ndume later apologised for the action and promised not to criticise President Tinubu’s administration again.

Grouse with reforms

During the interview on Channels Television, Mr Ndume described the proposed tax reform bills as “giving somebody something with right hand and taking it back with left hand.”

The senator explained that part of his disagreement with the bills was that they would make companies that will pay higher taxes to increase the prices of goods and services and, therefore, make living inconvenient for the masses.

“Let me take it one after the other but they may have different opinions. When you say those earning N800,000 below do not pay VAT – on what? Do you exclude him from paying VAT from the goods that he will buy in the market? And then the corporate tax goes up. Now they transfer the cost or the taxes over to the consumer. So, are you helping him,” he queried.

Mr Ndume said Dangote Industries Limited may increase the price of goods and services for Nigerians when the company’s tax is higher.

“Even today, the price of cement goes up and that means consumers will have to pay more. If you tax Dangote for his refined products, it means he will add that cost to the cost per litre. So, if you are saying if you’re earning below N800,000 you will not pay tax, what of those people that are below that level,” he added.

Professionals advice

Mr Ndume said he employed the services of professionals and lecturers to review the tax reform bills. And they all opposed the bills.

“I have studied this thing. I have given it to the professionals, even the lecturers of those that are promoting it, those people that taught them. I approached some of them and they said ‘look this tax reform is good, it is good to do tax reform but not this one’.” he said.

The senator also said he was suspicious of the way the bills passed the second reading in the Senate.. He said the legislative action should have been thorough.

“Sit down and do it comprehensively and break it down! Why the hurry? There is a big suspicion. Why the hurry? They are in too much of a hurry. From the government’s end there’s a hurry in it,” Mr Ndume said.

Proposed Tax Bill.

🔝N1 million Salary earners and less will no longer pay Personal Income Tax.

If this is true then I’m 100% in complete support. Forgive my ignorance earlier

After reviewing the Tax Reform Bill, I am now in full support of it.

Forgive my earlier ignorance. I initially tweeted based on others’ opinions, but after examining it myself, I fully support it.

For the first time since taking office, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is pursuing a policy that supports poor Nigerians.

The Tax Reform Bill is designed to benefit the masses, and any Northern politician opposing it is standing against the interests of the poor northern masses.