By Abdullahi Yusuf
The Northern Youth Assembly (Majalisar Matasan Arewa) has expressed disappointment in the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, over his handling of the debate on the Tax Reforms bill at the Senate.
The assembly made the remark in an Open Letter to Sen.Barau, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Kano on Saturday.
The letter which was signed by the assembly’s President, Ali Mohammed Idris, and its National Secretary, Abdulhafiz Garba, said: “The Northern Youth Assembly (Majalisar Matasan Arewa), on behalf of the 19 Northern States leadership of the Assembly, wishes to express our unequivocal disappointment and dismay in you, following your manipulative action towards the scaling for the second reading, of an evil tax reform bill, which would certainly undermine the North, and further relegate the region economically and commercially.
“Our disappointment is more on your dictatorial attitude at the senate plenary to impose your opinion and self-serving interest on behalf of your political God-fathers, who promise you heaven and earth come 2027, a dream which would never come true,” it said.
It alleged that the way the deputy president of the senate manipulated the debate was “the highest order of your insensitivity to the economic and commercial plight of your constituency, Kano State and the entire Northern Nigeria.”
The group said the proposed bill in its current form, would surely disproportionately affect the economic livelihoods and aspirations of people in the north.
“Even though you are quite aware that this bill is anti-North and has the tendency of further impoverishing the people in the North, and would further cripple economic and commercial activities in the region, you are hell-bent on making it a reality,” it said.
It further said that the North faced a barrage of critical issues such as acute shortage of electricity supply, rampant insecurity across the region, naked poverty, unemployment and a dismal state of infrastructure, alleging that instead of pursuing programmes that would salvage the region, Senator Barau “resolved to lead the war of further destroying the little prospects left of the North.”