Tinubu, Gumi, Tax: Not On My 2025 Hall Of Infamy List

By Ikeddy Isiguzo—

Fourteen years ago, then-President Goodluck Jonathan increased the price of fuel on January 1, 2012. I summarised 2012 as the year that almost wasn’t. The President’s single act raised the prices of everything, and some who travelled to our villages for Christmas struggled to return to the cities as they sought to raise new transport fares.

However, over the next three years of his presidency, Jonathan’s other policies carried Nigerians smoothly until the vicious propaganda led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, known then as Jagaban Borgu, took Nigeria through eight excruciating years of Muhammadu Buhari’s exhausting policies that nearly destroyed Nigeria.

Tinubu began 2026 with tax policies that even he seems to struggle to understand, beyond the fact that they would funnel more trillions into the government coffers he controls.

Where are the crowds that filled Freedom Park in Lagos and other locations to protest Jonathan’s fuel price hike? Are the crowds now in support of Tinubu’s taxes? Do they view these taxes as preferable to the 2012 fuel price increase?

Buhari birthed Tinubu, a worse version of himself, who, in addition to his entitlement mentality, mocks us with numerous “And there’s nothing you can do about it” remarks. His 30 months have inflicted more trauma on Nigeria than most citizens, still drained from Buhari’s burdens, ever imagined.

How Tinubu became President is a fresh story—one that only a few need reminding of. Tinubu’s stories will resurface as the push to 2027 gains momentum.

One thing Tinubu should avoid preaching in 2026 and 2027 is his claim to be a Southern candidate. He abandoned that concept in 2015 when he supported Buhari against Jonathan, a Southern candidate. Tinubu is not in any position to present himself as a Southern candidate; at best, he is a South-West candidate, as his actions since May 29, 2023, have proven.

His harmful policies against the South-East and South-South are evident. Whether it is appointments or project locations, Tinubu has persistently demonstrated an inexplicable level of unfairness towards these two zones—unapologetically so. The clamour from both regions drowns out the voices drawing attention to Tinubu’s anti-South policies unless they directly affect the South-West.

In 2027, a Northern candidate will emerge to oppose Tinubu in the election. Just as Tinubu supported Buhari in 2015, this candidate will be backed to defeat Tinubu. Frightening details will unfold in the coming days.

Since 2015, Tinubu has disrupted our politics in pursuit of the presidency. He will be shocked by the determination of Nigerians to overcome all hurdles in electing a replacement for his unfeeling government—a government that demands sacrifices but provides no great examples and offers no explanations for the trillions it borrows outside the earnings from oil and gas and taxes.

Tinubu will need to be more transparent in 2026, including revealing who he really is. The inquest starts now. Those who refuse to question Tinubu, as was the case in 2023, are complicit.

I find Tinubu overqualified for my 2025 Hall of Infamy. Someone like him requires entirely different criteria to assess his humanity; he is therefore excluded.

Next to be excluded is Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi. Ahmad, son of Shayk Abubakar Gumi, has gained equal measures of fame and notoriety for his closeness to bandits and terrorists, supporting them for years while they wreak havoc across the land.

Where Gumi differs from Tinubu is in his educational background. He attended Sardauna Memorial College for his secondary education and was admitted to Ahmadu Bello University to study medicine. After graduating, he enlisted in the Nigerian Defence Academy, resigning at the rank of Captain. He then moved to Saudi Arabia to further his Islamic education at Umm al-Qura University, where he studied Islamic Jurisprudence and Tafsir. Although there is no doubt about his academic journey, some of Gumi’s classmates in Saudi Arabia are frequently mentioned in his CV.

Tinubu, whom I excluded from my list, cannot undergo scrutiny on any issue; his opacity is typical of him.

“If the country could pardon coup plotters who committed treasonable offences during military rule, then the bandits can enjoy similar forgiveness under democratic rule,” Gumi suggested in one of his interventions on behalf of bandits in the North.

He also justifies the activities of kidnappers, stating, “Kidnapping children from school is a lesser evil because, in the end, you can negotiate, and now bandits are very careful about human lives. Before, the mission of bandits was to enter a town, ransack it, and kill people.”

Gumi’s latest focus has been the Nigerian Army, making demoralising remarks about the personnel and the quality of their equipment.

No one holds Gumi accountable. He negotiates with bandits, defends them, speaks on their behalf, and promotes “non-kinetic approaches” to dealing with banditry and terrorism, aligning with the National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu’s stance.

Those who empower Gumi to gain credibility for bandits and terrorists from the blood of their victims are responsible for their menace in the fight against banditry and terrorism.

Government officials, military leaders, and politicians defend Gumi. No efforts are made to rein him in; he can openly deride efforts to combat terrorism without consequences.

Most recently, he warned that attacks on bandits and terrorists could “provoke” them and jeopardise peace negotiations.

Gumi is not new to supporting ransom payments. He stated conditions for releasing students of Greenfield University in Kaduna, who were kidnapped in 2021, asking the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay.

His former aide, Tukur Mamu, is currently facing trial on terrorism-related charges, including allegedly receiving N50 million from terrorists after the 2022 Kaduna train attack.

Taxation emerged as 2025 concluded. The insistence on starting it “immediately” was yet another way for Tinubu to demonstrate his control while remaining unaccountable to anyone.

Here is a President of whom Nigerians are unsure of his whereabouts for days. His spokesman concealed his location when he announced that the President was continuing his end-of-year holiday in “Europe.” A new country? In which of Europe’s 51 countries is the President?

Has the President become so ashamed of his trips to France that he leaves Nigerians guessing about his location? Wherever he is, those interested can discover his location within minutes of his departure from Nigeria.

Tinubu should have returned to witness the early days of his new tax policies. The Vice President would not dare take on this responsibility, nor would anyone else. A lot of damage is being done in the absence of clarity regarding the implementation, implications, and complications of these tax policies. Unlike Jonathan’s fuel price hike, tax policies are more complex than merely changing pump prices.

Tinubu has the tax policies he wants; let him come back and supervise them. Those who ought to explain the tax details to Nigerians seem too afraid to say anything that might upset Tinubu.

Perhaps the French will explain the taxes—if they come, they should speak enough English to communicate with the majority of our people who wish to understand these matters in their mother tongues.

Tinubu cannot be hiding or going to some extravagant week-long festival in the United Arab Emirates, with all the uncertainties and insecurity in Nigeria, where he is the Commander-in-Chief, especially at a time when more US bombings against terrorists in Nigeria are expected.

Is this the time to extend a holiday abroad? A significant outcome of the UAE trip could be more misinformation about visas.

Issues, including tax, like others before them, will not earn a place in the 2025 Hall of Infamy. Tinubu should contest this.

Nigerians must remain vigilant in 2026. It is not too early to start questioning why Tinubu believes Nigeria is solely his domain, particularly since 2014. It is also not too late to demand full disclosure regarding who the President is.

Happy New Year, and stay woke.

Finally…
Senate President Obong Godswill Akpabio started the New Year on a clean slate. He announced that he is withdrawing all defamation cases he initiated after a New Year’s message moved him. I hope those who countered and sued him for defamation are also moved to forgive him.

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike speaks in ways that suggest he is unaware that the APC train has left Obi-Akpor without him. His former political godson, Simi Fubara, is on board and inviting passengers as the leader of the APC in Rivers State. What relevance does Wike have in the APC Rivers when discussing how he will change leadership in Rivers in 2027? Didn’t Wike realise when the train passed?

*Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues.