…to inflict heavy tax on Kwara residents
By Mumini AbdulKareem
The leadership of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to a factional gubernatorial candidate, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has reportedly entered into a clandestine agreement with the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to inflict heavy tax on the citizens of the state if the party wins the next gubernatorial election.
The deal which was reportedly sealed with Tinubu after the Kwara APC campaign rally which took place in Lagos recently will see the increment of the monthly tax revenue of the state to the tune of N5billion.
It was gathered the APC gubernatorial candidate and his younger brother, Isiaka Abdulrazaq led some top leaders of the party to meet with Tinubu.
It could however not be confirmed whether the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed who doubles as the leader of the party in the state, was also present at the meeting.
Also, as part of the agreement, was the reported plan to hand over the collection of taxes and all other revenue inflows of the state to Alpha Beta, a consultancy firm allegedly owned by Tinubu.
Alpha Beta is presently collecting revenue for Lagos and other northern states and is being accused by its former managing director/chief executive, Dapo Apara of a N100 billion fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
Apara, last week, accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of deliberately refusing to act on his petition over the matter because of Tinubu, an allegation that has since been denied by the Commission.
According to a source privy to the development, the template on how to successful implement the regime is already being drafted.
“During the meeting which was convened shortly after the Kwara State chapter of the party held its rally in Lagos, all parties agreed that if the APC forms the next government, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Kwara State will be increased to N5 billion monthly.
“You Know Kwara State is regarded as a civil service state and the reality of the deal is that the citizens will have to pay much more than they are paying now which was agreed during the meeting. There are not many big companies in Kwara State that can conveniently absolve such tax burden but it was reasoned that with a population of about three million residents, the figures will complement the deficit from the companies.
“So, if perchance the party (APC) wins the race in the state, come March, the people must be ready to groan under heavy tax regime and Alpha Beta consultancy is poised to take over the collection of taxes and other revenues of the state. That was the agreement and the template for collection is already being drafted,” the source added.
Recall that Isiaka who is the Group Executive Director, Finance of the Nigeria National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) promised to provide the sum of N5 billion to fund the APC campaign in the state and was instrumental to the emergence of Kayode Alabi as the party’s running mate as part of the concessions given to him.
Tinubu has been involved in a fierce political tussle with Saraki after the latter outsmarted him and his group to become the Senate President. Since then, the former Lagos State governor has been involved in what many of his apologists called revenge move to get back at the Senate President by weakening the Saraki’s strong political base in Kwara.
Since the 2019 campaign started, the faction of the APC loyal to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture and lackey of Tinubu, has made the Lagos Bourdillion home of Tinubu a political Mecca of sort in a bid to fine tune moves on the Saraki-must-be-defeated-at-all-cost project.
When contacted on the issue, the factional state Chairman of the APC, Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa (BOB) denied any such deal or agreement.
In a telephone chat with our reporter, Bolarinwa said, “Why are you asking me such question. Where did you get that from? There is nothing like that please”.
