Islamic scholar and political activist, Dr Usman Bugaje, says although THISDAY newspaper owned the right to declare President Bola Ahmed Tinubu its “Man of the Year,” the criteria used remained doubtful because Nigerians associated the Nigerian leader with suffering.
“I used to know him as a man of ideas,” Bugaje said, recalling his time as National Secretary of the Action Congress (AC). “But I don’t see the ideas, I don’t see the dynamism, I don’t see the progressiveness. I see somebody who is almost turning into a monarch.”
Bugaje spoke in an interview on ARISE News on Thursday, Dr. Usman Bugaje, and raised concerns about governance, economic policies, and Nigeria’s political culture.
Bugaje criticised Tinubu’s approach to governance, particularly focusing on the controversial tax reform Bill, which he described as improperly introduced and lacking transparency.
“The idea to smuggle things and come in through the backdoor creates a lot of suspicion,” Bugaje explained.
On the tax reform Bill, Bugaje criticised the Bill’s lack of clear definitions for contentious terms like “attribution” and “derivation,” warning that such ambiguities could lead to conflicts.
“This Bill has no relevance to the current economic crisis… We need a process that takes cognisance of the economy we’re in and the challenges we face,” Bugaje asserted.
“I feel this Bill has no relevance to the current economic crisis that this country is going through and I would rather we start a whole process that takes cognisance of the kind of economy we are in, the challenges our economy is facing and therefore craft something that can gradually pick the economy up and will facilitate production in a way that will make this economy recover.”
Bugaje dismissed the notion that the 1999 Constitution inherently fosters a monarchical style of governance.
Instead, he blamed weak institutions, particularly the National Assembly, for failing to check executive excesses.
“We don’t have a National Assembly; we have people just out there to make money, they have no idea of what their job is and they just go to these poor constituencies and spread rice and palm oil and nobody talks about that, if we continue that way, some day we will just wake up to a riot. Yes we need to address those weaknesses in our constitution but even as it is in the moment, we are not operating it properly,” he remarked, stressing the need for stronger oversight to ensure accountability and prevent abuse of power.
Bugaje also called for the withdrawal of the tax reform Bill in order to allow for broader consultations, describing the anticipated public hearings as a necessary but insufficient step.
“Why do we have to fight over things that should ideally benefit the country? Why do we have to create a battlefield in the public hearing of the national assembly, there are better ways to do this thing.” he remarked, urging for a more collaborative and less contentious approach to policy reform.
ARISE TV
