Re-Open Letter to Sen. Barau I. Jibrin (CFR) (DSP) Titled: “You Are the Worst Political Betrayer and Enemy to Kano State and the North, and Your Desperate Political Ambition Would Not See the Light of the Day Come 2027” – A Rejoinder

“All the laws in the world won’t stop unethical conduct. It is a matter of personal integrity” Richard L. Kattle.

I am constrained to point out that the report with the above-titled published on 29th
day of November, 2024, was not only in bad taste but absolutely and out rightly denigrative, odious, indecorous and utterly negated the fundamental objectives and the directive principles of state policy as enshrined in CHAPTER 11 OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (1999),
SECTION, 14 (2) which states that “SECURITY AND WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE SHALL BE THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT”

2. Your report gave the impression that it was the revered and Distinguished Senator Barau.I. Jibrin (CFR), Deputy Senate President, representing Kano North Senatorial District that allowed the four tax reform bills to scale the second reading which is now awaiting public hearings in the hallowed chamber. There is no iota of truth in this speculation and glaring ignorance of legislative process.

To set the record straight, the proposed tax reform bills is designed to significantly
overhaul the country’s tax system hinging on the introduction of four new bills towards simplifying the Nigerian tax landscape, reduce the burden on small businesses in order to streamline the tax collection, ensure uniformity in tax revenue, eliminate double taxation, use taxation to encourage private sector investment, reduce corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25% over a period of
two years so as to alleviate financial pressure on businesses, shift in vat revenue
distribution and to lift tax burden on 90% of Nigerian workers in the country.

For the avoidance of doubt, and to put the record in its proper perspectives, the
politically-savvy and grassroot-oriented Senator Barau I. Jibrin (CFA) Deputy Senate President is not a political betrayer an enemy of people of Kano State and the entire North and the testimony to this effect is his political track records during elections when he polled a whopping 234,652 votes to defeat the candidate of NNPP, Abdullahi Baffa, who scored 177,014 votes. As a wily political icon, he was elected to the senate in 2015, 2019 and 2023 respectively having previously served as a member of the Federal House of Representative for the TARAUNI LOCAL GOVERNMENT Federal Constituency at the beginning of the 4th republic. He was a former Chairman of Kano State Investments and properties limited and Commissioner of Science and Technology. His political popularity and trajectory cuts across many districts in Kano having been elected to represent the good people of Kano Central before moving to Kano North where he was massively elected as a Senator three times due to his unalloyed love and empathy for all the indigenes of Kano State. It is, therefore, apposite to further enlighten and educate the Northern Youth Assembly to the fact that during his record-breaking term in the House of Representative and the staggering three terms in the Senate he single- handedly sponsored many laudable and commendable bills and motions including a bill to build the Federal University of Education Technology in Bichi, Kano, bills to establish the Federal Polytechnic, Kabo, his ancestral home. Not tired in the emancipation and development of his people, he elongated his effective legislative engagements by introducing a bill in 2020 for the newly created North West Development Commission towards bridging the gaps in infrastructural development in the region. At the House of Representatives, he
chaired the House Committee on Appropriation, He is also a member of the following committees Power, Industries, Niger Delta and Land. Also, in the Senate in 2019 to 2023 he was the Chairman Senate Committee on TETFUND and other numerous standingcommittees.

In conclusion, therefore, i wish to observe that such write-ups, which i see as an aberration, hardly do justice to the iconic image and background of distinguished Senator Barau I. Jibrin, (CFR), Deputy Senate President, who is a thorough-bred intellectual who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Master’s Degree in Financial Management and Pricing, and Masters of Business Administration
(MBA) and also a Degree in Financial Management for Business Decisions from Cornell University in the United States of America.

I, therefore, wish to request that your farcical and indecorous impression that the venerated Distinguished Senator Barau I. Jibrin, (CFR) that he is a Political betrayer and dictatorial which is antithetical, repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience would be corrected through the publication of this REJOINDER via any popular traditional media as this would be in tandem with the
Distinguished Senator Barau I. Jibrin’s philosophical belief of St Francis of Assisi
that” Lord, make us instruments of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love ; where there is injury, pardon ;, where there is discord, union, where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness light, where there is sadness joy”

Signed Muhammad Rabiu Aliyu (MIPSA, CCrFA CNA, ACTI)