Regina Otokpa 
The Northern Redemption Coalition (NRC) has slammed the representative of Borno South in the Senate Ali Ndume over his position on the tax reform bills before the National Assembly.
President Bola Tinubu sent four bills to the National Assembly, including the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Tax Administration Bill, and the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, meant to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Act and create the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and, the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
The Northern Governors Forum (NGF) had opposed the VAT Bill, claiming it would impoverish the North, a position that drew widespread condemnation from northern youths and professionals. Ndume said on Channels TV on Tuesday that the bills should be thrown out.
However, the NRC President Adamu Bashir cautioned Ndume against overinflating his political worth. He said: “It is the failure of leaders like Ndume to develop the North that has left them with the phobia.
“They have for the tax bills, which President Tinubu has demonstrated, can turn the economy around. “While he claimed to be speaking for the poor in the country, it turned out he cannot even speak for the North, and certainly, he appears disconnected from his constituency because all Ndume’s years in the Senate have been wasted as he has refused to uplift his constituents.”
