Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has issued a scathing rebuttal to a newspaper advert by a little-known group calling for the removal of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji.
The group, identified as the Arewa Consultative Youth Movement, had urged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to compel Adedeji to “step aside” over alleged “unconstitutional activities”, claims Fani-Kayode dismissed as baseless, mischievous and politically orchestrated.
In a strongly worded statement shared on his Facebook wall on Sunday, the former minister questioned both the credibility and the legitimacy of the signatories behind the advert. According to him, the group neither represents northern interests nor speaks for youths as it claims.
“I consider it a privilege to have lived in the North for 23 years. I know virtually every relevant group and notable individual, and I have never heard of this faceless so-called ‘Youth’ movement,” he said.
Fani-Kayode argued that targeting Adedeji, whom he described as one of the administration’s “brightest stars”, amounted to an attempt to derail ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s tax administration. He praised the FIRS chairman and his team for implementing landmark policy changes with professionalism, compassion and integrity.
“The reforms in the tax sector are outstanding and rank among the greatest achievements of President Tinubu’s administration. To ask for Adedeji to step aside on the basis of mere allegations is unjust and absurd,” he said.
He alleged that the advert, signed by one Kabiru Yusuf, was a work of the political opposition unnerved by the administration’s recent gains. He added that no “right-thinking person” would take the group’s claims seriously.
The former minister went further to ridicule what he described as the group’s lack of seriousness and competence, pointing out that even Adedeji’s name was misspelled in the publication.
“Someone should tell them that ‘Zach’, not ‘Zak’, is short for Zachariah, a popular biblical name spelt with an ‘h’, not a ‘k’. Learning to spell properly should be the starting point of their re-education,” he said.
Fani-Kayode encouraged Adedeji to remain focused, describing the attacks as a sign of progress rather than scandal. He drew an analogy, noting that “stones are only thrown at trees that bear good fruit.”
He urged the FIRS leadership to view the controversy as a distraction engineered by “jobless reprobates,” insisting that the administration’s tax reforms remain firmly on track.
