Abaribe: S’East Won’t Benefit Much from Tinubu’s Tax Reforms without Kanu’s Release

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has said how much the South-east geopolitical zone would benefit from the tax reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu would depend on the resolution of the insecurity issue in the zone. Abaribe stated this yesterday while fielding questions from journalists after paying a Yuletide visit to Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, at his Nvosi country home.

Abaribe spent quite some time with the governor discussing issues of governance in the state.

The Abia South senator said that Tinubu’s tax bill was aimed at boosting production, and there was no way a zone noted for production, like the South-east, would gain from it if Kanu was not released to end insecurity.

He stated, “The president wants to pass a tax bill that has to do with production. You cannot tax people who don’t produce. So, he needs Nnamdi Kanu out so that all those things that are holding us down in the South-east, that have made us not to produce as much as we ought to produce, will not be there.”

Abaribe reiterated that Igbo leaders and all Nigerians that believe in unity, justice and fairness would “continue to call on President Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu”.

He said, “We are ready and willing to be guarantors for him to be released so that we can have life coming back into the South-east and take it away from the criminals, kidnappers, the cultists and dangerous elements that are floating around us.”

The senator, who is Chairman of the South-east caucus in the National Assembly, said setting Kanu free from detention would isolate the criminal elements masquerading as Biafra agitators.

He said, “What we now know in the South-east is that criminals and all other people who advocate violence have taken over and using the name Nnamdi Kanu to perpetuate all these their despicable acts.

“We know that the president, being a listening leader, will also look at all the issues involved, which we have presented to him from various mediums, that he will do the needful and release Nnamdi Kanu so that it will put a stop to all these things that are happening in the South-east and bring back the South-east as the hub of production in Nigeria.”

On his assessment of Otti’s performance so far, Abaribe said the governor of his state was doing well, adding that Otti’s good works would pave the way for his second tenure come 2027.

“I think second tenure is still very far away but I do not see any stumbling block on the way if we go by what he has done at this point,” he said.

Abaribe, who got his fourth term mandate on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), explained that he came to visit Otti because of their shared interest on good governance.

He stated, “Even though my party is APGA and his party is Labour, we feel that we have gone beyond party, and we are now at the point of governance.

“So, I came to encourage him, he’s done so well and we wanted to make sure that we continue to inspire him to do much more for the people of Abia.”

Abaribe added, “Let me say this, I come from Aba; he has done tremendously well in infrastructure, the whole infrastructure in Aba. I have driven around; I have seen everything.”

He said he would continue to encourage Otti “to continue in the path that he has chosen”.