By Osaretin Osadebamwen
The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Zach Adedeji, has thrown his weight behind the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, insisting that Nigerians should allow the administration to consolidate the reforms it introduced after taking what he described as painful but necessary decisions.
Adedeji made the position known during an interview on Sunday Politics, Channels TV while defending the administration’s record and arguing that abandoning the Tinubu government at this stage would amount to disrupting reforms that, according to him, are beginning to produce results.
He went further, expressing certainty that the President would secure another mandate. Being emphatic of the reelection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led All Progressives Congress in 2027 he said “It’s not about if. We will,”
“Nigeria are so wise. Nigeria are so considerate. Nigeria don’t pay good with evil,” Adedeji said.
Asked what would happen if Tinubu were not re-elected, Adedeji dismissed the possibility and maintained that Nigerians would support continuity.
He said he was not speaking as a politician but as someone who had worked closely with the President and witnessed his approach to governance.
“I work with him day and night. I’ve never seen anybody that have Nigeria in his mind like him,” he said.
Adedeji’s comments come against the backdrop of growing political preparations ahead of the 2027 general election, with the performance of the Tinubu administration expected to remain a major issue in the contest.
The FIRS chairman said Nigeria had moved beyond what he described as a period of economic crisis and was now entering a consolidation phase.
He urged Nigerians not to seek another reset after the government had taken difficult decisions and begun implementing reforms across critical sectors.
“Now we are out of crisis management in our economy to consolidation stage,” Adedeji said.
According to him, the next phase should be about strengthening and deepening existing reforms rather than introducing another policy direction.
He pointed specifically to the new tax law, Securities Exchange reforms, the credit system and the NELFUND initiative as programmes that should be allowed to mature before Nigerians consider changing direction.
“Is it now that you want to stop it?” he asked, challenging those advocating a change in government to explain why reforms that had only recently begun should be discontinued.
Adedeji argued that the decision facing Nigerians in 2027 should be based on what the administration has accomplished rather than on political rhetoric or promises of what opposition politicians claim they could do differently.
“I show you data. I show you where we met it, where we’ve taken it to. Tell me what’s the best thing that Nigeria could get,” he said.
He further challenged political opponents to present concrete alternatives to the policies already introduced by the Tinubu administration.
“It’s not by saying they can do better,” Adedeji said, demanding that critics demonstrate how their proposed alternatives would improve on the government’s record.
The FIRS chairman maintained that the painful decisions taken by the administration were necessary to address structural problems that had accumulated over time.
He argued that Nigerians should not allow the difficulties associated with the reforms to push the country back into another cycle of policy reversals.
Adedeji also expressed confidence that Nigerians would recognise the changes he attributed to the Tinubu administration when deciding whether to renew its mandate.
For the FIRS chairman, however, the choice is essentially between continuing with the current reforms and starting another cycle of policy adjustment.
He said the government had already made the difficult choices and that the country was now at the point where those policies needed time to mature.
His position effectively places continuity at the centre of the administration’s political argument ahead of 2027: that Nigerians should retain Tinubu to consolidate the changes already underway rather than risk another reset
