Proposed tax reforms in Nigeria have resulted in a dispute between the country’s predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south. Amid the tensions, social media posts recently alleged that President Bola Tinubu had removed the security personnel of northern governors and ordered the closure of mosques in Lagos because of the row. However, this is false: there have been no local media reports of any such events since the story surfaced two weeks ago and a presidential spokesperson told AFP Fact Check the claims were baseless. A representative for the Lekki Muslim Ummah also said that mosques had been operating normally in Lagos.
“Breaking News: Tinubu Withdraws Security from Northern Governors, Orders Closure of Mosques in Lagos,” read the heading of a Facebook post shared on December 5, 2024.
Screenshot of false Facebook post, taken on December 17, 2024
Several users elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram repeat the claim.
Contentious tax bills
The tax bills intend to simplify tax administration and make Nigeria, which relies on oil for 90 percent of its earnings, more attractive to local businesses and foreign investors (archived here).
The tax reform chair has argued that Nigeria has “over 50 nuisance taxes” — meaning levies paid in small but frequent amounts, usually by consumers (archived here).
If passed, the bills will cut down the number of separate levies paid by individuals and businesses to just “a few”, and slash corporate taxes from 30 percent to 25 percent over the next two years.
As a state with a federal fiscal regime, some of Nigeria’s taxes are paid into a central pot before being shared out between the central government, the 36 states and 774 local administrations every month.
One of the four bills is widely seen in northern Nigeria as a ploy by Tinubu, a southerner, to further impoverish the region by reducing its federal allocations of those levies, including Value Added Tax (VAT).
False news
Nigeria has 19 governors in the northern region, slightly more than half of all the state administrators in the country.
Withdrawing the security details of all the northern governors and shuttering mosques in Lagos are major developments that would have been reported by local media and discussed on social media.
However, more than two weeks since the claim first emerged online, no such incidents have been reported.
Tope Ajayi, a presidential spokesman, said that the claim was intended to stir tensions in the country.
“We are in the age of mindless fake news intending to cause disaffection and crisis in the country. President Bola Tinubu will never do such. Such fake news should be completely ignored,” he told AFP Fact Check on December 16, 2024.
On the same day, Mansur Ibrahim, the publicity secretary of the Lekki Muslim Ummah — the central body for Muslims in the Lekki area of Lagos — also confirmed that religious activities continued uninterrupted at mosques.
