Tinubu silencing critics with government appointments — Shaibu

Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Media to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday, accused President Bola Tinubu of silencing perceived critics of his government with appointments.

Shaibu, who stated this in a statement, was reacting to the president’s appointment of Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Taiwo Oyedele, as head of a committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms.

He alleged that the move was aimed at stopping Oyedele from criticizing the Federal Government’s failures in the future.

He also recalled former President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of the renowned economist, Dr. Doyin Salami, and the Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, into his economic team in 2019 with commensurate results.

Shaibu said: “It is common knowledge that Mr. Oyedele is the loudest voice as regards tax reforms.

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“Last Saturday, he pointed out some of the wrong tax policies of the APC government. In a bid to silence him, he was appointed chairman of a tax reform committee yesterday (Friday), but no other members were announced. Probably, they want him to work alone.

“With this new appointment, Mr. Oyedele will no longer be able to speak about the government’s failures. Mr. Oyedele would do well not to allow himself to be rubbished by Tinubu, a man whose only secret to the economic boom is using firms linked to him to generate tax for a commission just as he did in Lagos.

“Mr. Oyedele must not allow himself to be deceived by this appointment. In 2019, President Buhari similarly appointed Doyin Salami, Chukwuma Soludo, and Bismark Rewane into his economic advisory team, but he never took their advice for one day.

“In the end, Nigeria was plunged into one of its worst economic crises ever with an unprecedented debt profile, multidimensional poverty, and never before seen unemployment figures.”