A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has berated Mr Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser, Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, over his comments against Rt. Hon. (Barr) Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, erstwhile Governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transportation.
Amaechi had recently explained to Nigerians what the new Tinubu tax regime implies and why the current administration has deliberately refused to implement it for now.
According to Amaechi, one of the leading Presidential candidates of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Tinubu is delaying the implementation of the new tax law to avoid voter backlash.
Apparently jolted by Amaechi’s frank talk, the Presidency through Onanuga, rejected the former Rivers state governor’s claims about the new tax laws, calling them “egregious lies.”
However, in a statement on Tuesday, Chief Eze who was the former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), said Onanuga only played to the gallery without controverting Amaechi’s candid truth.
“He goofed! He didn’t answer Amaechi right”, he stated.
According to Eze, there was nothing wrong in Rt. Hon. (Barr.) Amaechi, taking his time to educate and warn Nigerians about the danger and implications of voting APC come 2027 and the serious economic consequences ahead if the ruling APC remains in power after the 2027 elections.
He therefore commended Amaechi for expressing concerns over the tax law’s impact on Nigerians.
“What is the fallacy in what Barr. Amaechi said, Eze querried Onanuga .
“Is it not true that the Tinubu government is delaying the introduction and implementation of the new tax law to avoid voter backlash and being punished at the poll?
“Like Amaechi rightly pointed out, by January, February next year, Nigerians will be in trouble if Tinubu is re-elected.
“The honest truth is that after the election, paradventure the APC forms government in 2027, they will definitely implement the tax law and poor Nigerians will suffer untold hardship, Eze posited.
He insisted that no amount of damage control or name calling in the media space by Onanuga, will deflate Amaechi’s stance on why the implementation of the tax law is delayed.
“Prominent Nigerians, business magnets, high networth individuals, civil servants, captains of industries, the downtrodden etc are now in the know of what Tinubu has planned to do with this obnoxious tax regime if re-elected.
“What else has Onanuga to say? Of course, nothing apart from issuing a terse and empty statement, while failing woefully to proffer a superior argument to whittle down Amaechi’s bitter truth, Eze said.
Eze further described the denial by Onanuga of the salient facts highlighted by Amaechi as an exercise in futility as they are crystal clear.
“The truth is that Nigerians are not going to be deceived as Amaechi has made them understood that Tinubu and his cohorts do not mean well for them and have taken Nigerians as fools.
“Considering the concerted efforts the presidency made in pressurizing the National Assembly to pass the tax reform bill and the speed President Tinubu used in appending his signature on the Tax Law even when many people raised alarm over it’s adverse implications on Nigerians, we expected that Tinubu will begin its implementation right away.
“Amaechi has spoken; Onanuga knows that Amaechi is right just as he sincerely knows why Tinubu is delaying implementation of the anti people tax law. But because he is one of Tinubu’s hangers on, he will always call pot and kettle white, Eze said.
He therefore advised Nigerians of voting age to heed to Amaechi’s statement, borne out of patriotism, and vote out Tinubu from office; or risk tolerating the evil that APC represents.
