By Adedapo Adesanya

Former presidential candidates at the 2023 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi and Mr Atiku Abubakar, have separately slammed President Bola Tinubu on issues relating to economic conditions of Nigerians.

Mr Obi in a statement argued that taxation must be rooted in transparency, fairness, and concern for citizens’ welfare, cautioning that the ongoing controversy over the alleged manipulated tax law threatens economic growth and public trust.

Despite recent controversies, the new tax laws regime have officially kicked off.

“For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a tax law has reportedly been forged. The National Assembly itself has admitted that the version gazetted is not what was passed into law,” he said.

“Yet, citizens are being asked to pay higher taxes under this manipulated framework, without transparency, without explanation, and without corresponding benefits,” the candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 noted.

Mr Obi, who is now with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stressed that “taxing poverty does not create wealth; it deepens hardship,” urging the government to focus instead on empowering small and medium-sized enterprises, which he said are critical for job creation, income growth, and the natural expansion of the tax base.”

“You cannot tax your way out of poverty, you must produce your way out of it,” he noted, calling for a lawful, fair, and people-centered tax system that supports production, rewards enterprise, protects the vulnerable, and restores trust between government and citizens.

“Nigeria needs a fair, lawful, and people-centred tax system, only then can taxation become a true tool for unity, growth, and shared prosperity,” Mr Obi concluded in the statement posted on his official X handle.

On his part, Mr Abubakar, a former Vice President, warned that policy failures under President Tinubu are deepening business distress, accelerating job losses, and pushing the country toward economic collapse.

In a New Year message to Nigerians, he described 2025 as “one of the most punishing years in our recent history,” marked by what he called “economic suffocation” and governance devoid of empathy.

He said the Tinubu-led administration presided over months of fiscal drift, borrowing heavily while businesses struggled to survive.

“The past year exposed, in stark terms, the incompetence and policy bankruptcy of President Bola Tinubu,” Mr Atiku said, adding that the government governed “for months without a functional budget, relying on propaganda while borrowing recklessly.”

From a business perspective, Mr Atiku, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential poll, warned that the operating environment for enterprises deteriorated sharply, with small and medium-sized businesses bearing the brunt of inflation, weak consumer demand, and policy uncertainty.

“Industries shut down. Workers were sent home. Hunger spread. Suffering became normalized,” he said.

He also questioned the credibility of the government’s reform agenda, citing what he described as a scandal involving a forged tax law.

“Nothing better captures the decay of this government than the scandal of a forged tax law, shamelessly branded a ‘reform’,” Mr Atiku, who has also now defected to the ADC, said, warning that “a government that begins reform with forgery cannot end with prosperity.”

Mr Atiku further dismissed official claims of revenue performance, arguing that worsening insecurity and debt accumulation were eroding investor confidence.

“While drowning the nation in debt, the government falsely claimed to have met revenue targets,” he said, noting that kidnappings and violent crimes had disrupted livelihoods and economic activity nationwide.

He said unemployment, labour unrest and collapsing enterprises defined the year, contradicting repeated assurances of economic recovery.

“Small businesses, the backbone of job creation, are collapsing. Workers are losing jobs,” Atiku said, arguing that policies demanding sacrifice from citizens were unjustified.

He warned, however, that weak institutions and disregard for due process could undermine future economic stability and elections. “A government capable of forging or tampering with laws cannot be trusted to conduct free and fair elections in 2027,” he said.

Calling for civic engagement, Mr Atiku urged Nigerians and the business community to organize for change through democratic means. “Democracy gives the people the power to change a failing government, peacefully and decisively, through the ballot,” he said.

He concluded with a call to action: “Let us vote out hunger, insecurity, unemployment, dishonesty, corruption, abductions, lies, and propaganda. Nigeria deserves better. Nigerians deserve dignity.”

Business Post reports that both Mr Obi and Mr Atiku are planning to work with other politicians to oust Mr Tinubu in the 2027 general elections through the ADC.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Mr Solomon Adeola, otherwise known as Yayi, has revealed that Nigeria now saves approximately N10 trillion annually following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy.

Mr Adeola, who doubles as chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, stated this on Saturday during his new year thanksgiving service held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Ona-Nla, Ilaro.

The Senator noted that within two years in office, the President had succeeded in removing a major cankerworm that had undermined the nation’s economy and finances.

According to him, before the removal, few Nigerians were benefiting from the fuel subsidy at the detriment of the overall population of the nation.

The lawmaker noted that prior to the removal of fuel subsidy, Nigeria borrowed an estimated N6 trillion to N7 trillion each year to finance the subsidy.

“I am a living testimony to what the president has done. Within his two years of assumption of office, he succeeded in removing the cankerworm in our economy that has affected our finances over the years.

“That is, the fuel subsidy; which benefited very few Nigerians at the detriment of the overall population of this nation.

“With that singular action, the president is saving the country over N10 trillion on annual basis.

“I used to be the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance during the last senate and I know on a yearly basis, what we go to bank to borrow to fund the subsidy is in the region of N6 trillion to N7 trillion on an annual basis,” he said .

Mr Adeola said the president was working round the clock to ensure a secure and prosperous Nigeria that citizens can be proud of, adding that extensive infrastructural renewal is currently ongoing across the country.

“The President is creating a new Nigeria . The Lagos-Calabar expressway will cut across 10 or 15 states and that is a new Nigeria being born. Also the Sokoto -Badagry way, a popular road, which we are also a beneficiary.

“Along that road alone, we have a total of 66 dams. When that road is fully completed, the president has also succeeded in creating a new Nigeria and a new economy for our country as a result of these 66 dams across the highway,” he said.

In his sermon, the Diocesan Bishop of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Ilaro, Rt. Rev. Micheal Oluwarohunbi, appreciated the federal legislator for changing the landscape of development in Ogun west senatorial district.

“Every new beginning is a gift from God. To work and do well is only by the grace of God. Gratitude is not optional, but mandatory in order to enjoy divine endorsement,” he said.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

President Bola Tinubu has been asked to urgently investigate allegations that more than N128 billion cannot be accounted for by the Ministry of Power and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc.

This call for a probe was made by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in a statement issued on Sunday.

The group urged Mr Tinubu to give directive to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and the appropriate anti-corruption agencies to look into the allegations of the missing N128 billion.

It declared that anyone suspected to be responsible should face prosecution as appropriate, especially if there is sufficient admissible evidence, and any missing or diverted public funds should be fully recovered and remitted to the treasury.

In the latest annual report published by the Auditor-General on September 9, 2025, it was claimed that the funds could not be accounted and may have been diverted by some persons.

In its statements today, SERAP said Nigerians continue to pay the price for the widespread and grand corruption in the power sector, stressing that there is a legitimate public interest in ensuring justice and accountability for these grave allegations.

“Tackling corruption in the power sector would go a long way in addressing the persistent breakdown of transmission lines in the country, and improving access of Nigerians to regular and uninterrupted electricity supply,” a part of the statement read.