Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has said the President Bola Tinubu administration has begun appointing critics into government for sinister motives.
Shaibu said in a statement Saturday that Tinubu’s constant meetings with some key opposition figures were being done for the purpose of seeking legitimacy and surreptitiously silencing credible critical voices.
He said the recent appointment of Taiwo Oyedele, a tax expert at PwC, was only a ploy to get him to stop speaking about the government’s failures as he had been doing almost on a daily basis on television, radio and social media.
He noted that former President Muhammadu Buhari similarly did this when he was appointing his economic advisory team.
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Shaibu added, “It is common knowledge that Mr. Oyedele is the loudest voice as regards tax reforms. 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 economic boom is using firms linked to him to generate tax for a commission just as he did in Lagos.”
Shaibu said Tinubu was buying over opposition figures in order to give his government some form of legitimacy after a questionable electoral victory.
