New Lease of Life for Babatunde Fowler

Babatunde Fowler—this is a man of legend. Given enough time, folks might imagine that he contested for the presidency and almost won. How else would you justify that many reports published in 2020 had his face in colour and his name in bold letters? Even so, the man has crossed to the other side and started to benefit from the foliage of renewed success. One might even say that his star, once drooping and nearly fallen, is on the rise again.

Fowler is one of Nigeria’s most interesting personalities. Both his time in office as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the time afterwards indicate his motivating narrative. For one nurtured by Providence and then abandoned only to be adopted again, Fowler has gone through it all. But new days are upon him.

Since clinching the Pan-African Oversight Committee appointment wherein the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) of the African Union (AU) assigned duties to Fowler and seven others, not much has been heard about the taxman. This is not to say that he is not living fine, it is only that tales of misfortune fly faster and Fowler has sensibly kept a cool head since the FIRS fiasco.
For those who followed his tale, Fowler’s tenure as FIRS chairman ended on a harsh note.

President Muhammadu Buhari refused to grant him a second term but went ahead to appoint someone who would hound him. After successive attempts to regain his reputation, Fowler became an object of scorn among Nigeria’s high society.

Then came the repeated visits from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). These visits forced the taxman to recall how he spent every penny back when he worked with the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue. It was a truly harrowing experience, even for onlookers.

Then came a period of quiet. Then came the PAP appointment. And Fowler could breathe again. And that has been the case ever since. Fowler has climbed up the ranks and is working on his international prestige. Indeed, it is a new lease of life for the taxman.