Former scribe of the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Ayo Opadokun, has described opposition to the proposed tax reform bills of President Bola Tinubu as unthinkable.

The Afenifere chieftain added that all right-thinking individuals should commend the president for the tax reform bills.

Pa Opadokun stated that President Tinubu, through the tax reform bills, is ?taking a shot at fiscal federalism.?

He said: ?Some people, rather than accept the facts regarding the necessity for our restoration to federal constitutional governance, keep on hypocritically telling us that the problem of Nigeria is leadership. When you say you have numbers, the tax you pay ordinarily does not amount to anything.

?What the president is trying to do in this instance of the tax reform bills should be commended by any right-thinking individual. For the first time, he wants to use the bills to take a shot at fiscal federalism.?

Opadokun spoke with reporters in Offa, Kwara State, on the sidelines of his yearly Christmas carol themed ?Rejoice.?

The elder statesman added that ?they have gone to the extent of making sufficient clarifications so that well-meaning individuals who are not prejudiced, jaundiced, and not ethnically preoccupied will not oppose the bill.

?When I listen to some of those claiming to represent the North on the matter, I wonder which North they are referring to.

?I know that, by the circumstances of the moment, those opposed to the bills are not likely to succeed. Most parts of the country are ready for the bills to succeed.

?Those grandstanding as if the bills will not favour them are doing so because they cannot continue to do what they have been doing: falsifying figures to enrich themselves while taking cognizance of their culture and tradition.?

Speaking further, he urged the president to return Nigeria to true federal constitutional governance, saying, ?It is the foundation upon which Nigeria gained independence.?

He asked President Tinubu to take decisive steps in correcting historical wrongs and restoring the nation to its original federal structure.

?The nation must return to federal constitutional governance; that is upon which we secured our independence. All that we are doing is chasing shadows,? he added.

Reflecting on Nigeria?s socio-economic challenges, Opadokun attributed the nation?s struggles to years of mismanagement, particularly during military regimes. He highlighted the naira?s decline during the Ibrahim Babangida administration as a turning point for the economy.

?Before Babangida came into office, the naira was stronger than the dollar. Within a year or two, it became three naira to a dollar. By the time he left, the situation was far worse,? he said, describing the nation?s economic plight as ?beggarly.?

Opadokun also criticised the long-term effects of colonial rule and military interventions, blaming them for eroding Nigeria?s cultural and educational values.

?The British and the military destroyed our national values and substituted them with theirs. Missionaries had once pleaded for the use of local languages to teach children, but they were refused. Today, Nigeria is the largest English-speaking country in the world,? he said.

He further challenged Nigerians to reflect on their roles in the nation?s challenges, emphasising the need for societal reforms and collective responsibility.

?Many of us, both in the lower and elite cadres, have been complicit in perverting societal values. The middle class has been obliterated, and most of the wealthy today benefited from the military?s misguided policies,? he added. (The Nation)

Update news