The Tax Reform Bills proposed by President Bola Tinubu has sparked huge controversy in the country.
Despite scaling through second reading at the National Assembly, many politicians particularly governors in the Northern region have maintained their stand against the bills.
Also, Senator Ali Ndume of Borno State has maintained his rejection of the bills citing the economic hardship as a major challenge.
Similarly, Governor Babagana Zulum has not seized fire. His rebelion of the bills in no secret.
Now, Zulum has revealed the main reason northern Governors need more time for consultations on the tax reforms bills.
The Borno State Governor had already advised President Tinubu to withdraw the bills for further consultations.
Governor Zulum made the disclosure on Sunday while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
To him, contrary to insinuations in certain quarters, the Governors are not against the administration of President Tinubu.
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He reminded Tinubu that he gathered over sixty percent of votes during the 2023 elections from the North, which is a clear indication of their support for him.
The North Will Suffer
He, however, maintained that he wouldn’t withdraw his earlier statement on the proposed tax reforms in which he maintained that the bill would only be beneficial to Lagos State and would make other regions, including the north, suffer.
“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 concluded that we would lose.
On the narration in some places that he is working against the government of President Tinubu, Zulum affirmed his commitment to the President and the All Progressives Congress (APC), submitting that the northern governors are not against President Tinubu.
“I am a strong member of APC. If you can count two governors before 2019 and 2023 who 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 was against him. 60.2 per cent of his votes came from the north,” he submitted.