Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has directed the Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Assembly to address concerns raised over the tax bills.

The transmission of the Tax Reform Bills to the National Assembly has sparked widespread criticism, particularly from some governors in the northern region. Critics argue that the bills could harm the northern region and further impoverish Nigerians.

To address these concerns, President Tinubu has instructed the Ministry of Justice to engage with the National Assembly’s leadership to address any issues with the bills.

“It is pertinent to state that the government has nothing sinister to warrant the suggestion that the process is being rushed. In line with the established legislative procedure, the Federal Government welcomes meaningful inputs that can address whatever grey areas there may be in the bill,” Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris said in a statement on Tuesday.

“In this vein, President Tinubu has already directed the Federal Ministry of Justice and relevant officials who worked on the drafts to work closely with the National Assembly to ensure that all genuine concerns have been addressed before the bills are passed.”

• ‘Spirit of Democratic Engagement’

Mohammed stressed that President Tinubu remains committed to accountability to the Nigerian people and praised the debates generated by the tax bills as “welcomed, and commendable.”

“It is very inspiring to see Nigerians from all walks of life coming out to express their views and opinions on these matters of critical national importance,” he said. “This is the very essence and meaning of democracy.”

“In the spirit of democratic engagement, there should be no room for name-calling or the injection of unnecessary ethnic and regional slurs into this important national conversation,” the minister added.

Some critics have argued that the bills are targeted at impoverishing certain states, particularly in the north. However, the minister dismissed these claims as “fake news” and “misinformation.”

“The fiscal reforms will not impoverish any state or region of the country, neither will they lead to the scrapping or weakening of any federal agencies,” he stated.

Once passed, he added, these bills are expected to “bring relief to tens of millions of hardworking Nigerians” and “empower and position our states and the 774 local governments for sustainable growth and development.”

“On top of this necessary foundation, the resources being conserved and realized from these reforms will be invested in critical infrastructure (healthcare, education, transportation, digital technology, etc.) and in social investments that will benefit all Nigerians and ensure that no one is left behind,” the statement read.

• Experts Call for Restraint, Patriotism

The Tax Reform Bills have continued to generate significant debate among Nigerians.

Following the heated discussions, Channels Television hosted a town hall event on Monday to examine the pros and cons of the tax bills. The event featured a range of experts, including the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Group CEO of Global Investment and Trade Company, Baba Yusuf; Public Affairs Analyst and Writer, Michael Chibuzor; and former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

Governor Sule Abdullahi of Nasarawa also participated in the discussion.

At the town hall, panelists urged restraint and called for a thorough review of the bills to address any grey areas.

Oyedele, who was instrumental in drafting the bills, highlighted that they contain over 200 “transformative provisions” aimed at fixing the country’s fiscal system and guiding it toward prosperity. He reassured Nigerians that the bills should not be held up by a few contested provisions.

“These Bills have more than 200 transformative provisions to fix our country and set us on the right path to prosperity,” Oyedele said. “We should not allow one or two provisions that we can easily discuss and agree on to become the pain or the bottleneck.”

Dogara also appealed to the northern region, urging them not to condemn President Tinubu over the bills, asserting that the measures are not aimed at undermining the north.

“I want to talk to my brothers in the North. I don’t think this is the time for us to begin to condemn the president and to begin to say that on account of these bills, he is anti-north,” Dogara said.

The Tax Reform Bills have already passed their second reading in the senate, despite calls for their withdrawal.

Court papers filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have linked the immediate-past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to a massive property in Abuja, consisting of 753 duplexes and other apartments located in the Cadastral Zone area of the capital city.

On Monday, the EFCC announced the recovery of the property from an unnamed former top government official, calling it the largest single recovery the agency had made in its history of fighting corruption since its establishment in 2003.

The recovery followed a ruling on December 2, 2024, by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court in Apo.

Court documents obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday detail how the EFCC connected Emefiele to the massive estate, which spans 150,500 square meters and is identified as Plot 109, Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja.

Emefiele is currently facing prosecution by the EFCC in three separate cases before different judges.

Before Justice Hamza Mu’azu, he is on trial for procurement fraud, forgery of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s signature, and other charges.

Before Justice Rahman Oshodi at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, Emefiele is charged with fraud involving $4.5bn and N2.8bn.

Additionally, Emefiele faces charges before Justice Maryann Anenih of the FCT High Court in Abuja for allegedly approving the printing of N684.5m worth of notes at the cost of N18.96bn.

According to the EFCC’s documents, Emefiele is accused of carrying out a “monumental fraud” while serving as CBN governor, with the assistance of his cronies, to acquire several properties, including the estate.

“The commission, whilst investigating the alleged monumental fraud carried out by the immediate past Governor of the CBN and his cronies, traced and discovered several properties reasonably suspected to have been acquired and/or developed with proceeds of unlawful activities,” the EFCC stated.

The agency further alleged that Emefiele negotiated kickbacks in exchange for allocating foreign exchange to companies in desperate need of funds for legitimate business activities.

The EFCC also claimed that Emefiele received kickbacks from contractors awarded contracts by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The investigation revealed that Emefiele collaborated with several cronies, including one Ifeanyi Omeke, who “ran several errands for him, including the purchase and perfection of title documents for properties located in highbrow areas of Lagos and Abuja.”

The EFCC said the documents for the Abuja property were recovered during a search of Omeke’s office, and investigators located the property on September 17, 2024, “with the assistance of a surveyor from the Abuja Geographical Information Systems, using search results and coordinates.”

The agency noted that the property has been abandoned since June 2023, following the arrest of the former CBN governor.

In October, the EFCC arrested Emefiele shortly after he regained his freedom from the Department of State Services (DSS), which had previously detained him.

The EFCC further disclosed that the massive property, allegedly acquired through cronies, was originally intended for a mass housing development. The investigation revealed that Emefiele used three companies to pay a total of N2.2bn for the property.

It said the seller “received the aggregate sum of N2,200,000,000.00” and that the three companies involved in the payment were “enmeshed in criminal maneuvering of layering proceeds of illegal activities of Mr. Godwin Emefiele.”

The EFCC alleged that one company paid N900m, a second company paid N700m, and a third company paid N600m, bringing the total to N2.2bn.

It further stated that the directors of the companies were arrested, and their statements were voluntarily obtained during the investigation.

“The funds used in the acquisition of the property highlighted in Schedule A to this application are not legitimate earnings of Godwin Emefiele but funds acquired through illegal and unlawful activities,” an EFCC investigator stated in the affidavit filed in court.

The EFCC added that the court had, on November 1, 2024, made an order for the temporary forfeiture of the property after evaluating the facts before it. The commission requested that the judge now order the permanent forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government, as no one had contested the facts, despite the interim forfeiture order being published (in The Punch) on November 6, 2024.

The court agreed to the EFCC’s request, and the property has now been permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

Attempts to reach Emefiele’s legal team for comment were unsuccessful. One of his lawyers, Matthew Burkaa (SAN), did not respond to calls or text messages seeking Emefiele’s side of the story.

‘Why EFCC Concealed Property Owner’s Identity’

EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale defended the agency’s decision not to reveal the identity of the property’s owner.

Responding to public criticism about the concealment, Oyewale explained, “The allegation of a cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the estate stands logic on the head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the Estate were in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam.”

He added that the civil proceeding focused on the property itself, not an individual, especially since the property was “unclaimed.” He emphasized that since the investigation was ongoing, revealing the identities of suspects not directly linked to title documents would be unprofessional.

“The substantive criminal investigation on the matter continues. It will be unprofessional of the EFCC to go to town by mentioning names of individuals whose identities were not directly linked to any title document of the properties,” Oyewale concluded.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has defended its decision to withhold the identity of the owner of a recently recovered estate, which it described as the largest single asset recovery in its history.

On Monday, the EFCC announced the recovery of 753 duplexes and other apartments located on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja.

However, the commission faced criticism from many Nigerians for not disclosing the identity of the asset’s owner.

One of the critics, former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, accused the EFCC of being afraid of confronting “big thieves.”

In response, the EFCC issued a statement on Tuesday through its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, defending its actions as being in line with the legal framework governing forfeiture proceedings and a commitment to professionalism.

Oyewale clarified that the forfeiture of the estate followed civil proceedings under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act. This legal provision allows for action-in-rem—a process that targets property rather than individuals, especially in cases involving unclaimed assets.

He stated, “The allegation of a cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the Estate stands logic on the head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the Estate were in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam.

“The latter allows legal actions against a property and not an individual, especially in a situation of an unclaimed property. This Act allows you to take up a forfeiture proceeding against a chattel who is not a juristic person. This is exactly what the Commission did in respect of the Estate. Individual in situations of unclaimed assets.”

Oyewale further explained that actionable intelligence led to investigations into the estate. During this process, he said a company initially flagged as the likely owner denied any connection to the property after public notices were published in leading national newspapers.

“On the basis of this, the commission approached the court for an order of final forfeiture, which Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court granted on Monday, December 2, 2024,” he added.

Despite securing the court order, Oyewale emphasized that the criminal investigation into the matter remains ongoing. He stated that revealing the names of individuals without direct evidence linking them to the property’s title documents would be premature and unprofessional.

“The substantive criminal investigation on the matter continues. It will be unprofessional of the EFCC to go to town by mentioning names of individuals whose identities were not directly linked to any title document of the properties,” Oyewale stated.

The commission reaffirmed its commitment to impartiality and its “no sacred cow” policy, assuring the public that it remains steadfast in its mission to combat corruption.

“We are unwavering in our approach to every matter, and together we will make Nigeria greater,” he concluded.