The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has again criticized President Bola Tinubu over the ongoing disagreement on the Tax Reform Bill, stating that the Presidency should be open to constructive criticism, as Tinubu himself had been during his tenure as Governor of Lagos under the administration of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo and his role in NADECO, where he challenged the central government.
Mohammed, speaking as a guest on Channels TV’s programme 2024 in Review on Tuesday, said he has no regrets for criticizing parts of the bill, noting that it is not well-received by many Nigerians and states with no derivative earnings.
He said, “We urged him to accommodate more collaboration; he said no, he would go on. Some of the issues… even NEC and some of the ministers were not aware that this bill was going to the National Assembly. I think we are not in a military regime. Even the military accommodated… even those with a military background accommodated people like the President when he was a governor, and he was able to challenge them rightly at the Federal Government level, and heaven didn’t fall.
“But some of us are giving advice in good faith because we know him. He is a democrat; he has really spearheaded a lot of protests against the federal government rightly, especially during the NADECO days. But we are disappointed that even genuine interventions are seen as an affront or an insult that will warrant or unleash the kind of response I got from the Presidency. That is very undemocratic and very unlike Tinubu.”
When asked to respond to the assertion that the reform will make many states maximise their natural resources, Mohammed said, “Should we die before we sit up? We need to discuss. Yes, it will help us to sit up. Even during the Buhari regime, we were able to raise our IGR.”
The Governor urged Tinubu to implement some of his policies using persuasion instead of force. He clarified that he is not against the reform but is calling for wider consultation and the removal of some contentious areas in the bill.
According to him, reform reflects the need to promote good governance but should not be implemented to the detriment of the majority of federating states. “That is what we are saying. It is not that we will deprive him of his right as the President of Nigeria and someone who has done a lot of reforms in Lagos — and we have high hopes for him — but rather, midway, we are disappointed that he is not even accommodating. He doesn’t listen; he believes that whatever he wants to do, he has the right to do it.
“He does not have that right. He has to listen to Nigerians when they have apprehensions,” he said.
