Mr. Olu Akinola, a tax expert, journalist and legal practitioner is a chieftain of All Progressives Congress and an aspirant for House of Representatives, Akure North/South Federal Constituency. In a chat with Editors of The Hope Newspaper, the federal tax commissioner highlighted his experience and mission for the job .
Excerpts:
Before we kick off, I’ll give us a story. It was about the Chief Akintola and Chief Awolowo crisis. So, there was to be a peace meeting to resolve the crisis. Everybody was already seated, and Chief Akintola came late. When he got there, he saw that everyone was seated and exclaimed humorously about seeing familiar faces. That’s why I was greeting you with your names earlier.
So, happy to meet you. My name is Olu Akinola. By profession, I’m a legal practitioner. I was also a journalist, and I’m still a journalist because I still write. I served with ThisDay and The Nation Newspaper at the editor level before I left the system.
Currently, I’m a publisher of the Federal Tax Law Report. I’m the publisher and editor-in-chief. That is my connection to this place.
I’m also a tax expert. Currently, I serve on a part-time basis, courtesy of the President of the Federal Republic, on the Tax Appeal Tribunal as a Federal Commissioner.
I’m also an economist. I studied Economics and Law, and I’m a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. I have a law practice in Lagos.
That is by way of introduction.
Currently, I’m running for the position of the House of Representatives for Akure North and South Federal Constituency. Politically, I’ve been in the progressive family since the SDP days. During the Abacha years, I was with DPN. When democracy returned, I joined the Alliance for Democracy, where I served in different committees at the state level.
Then we moved into AC, ACN and eventually APC. I’ve never moved to another party for any reason. I’ve remained consistent within the progressive family.
In 2015, we all came together under APC. I was the first candidate of the party in Akure North for the House of Assembly. Unfortunately, we lost that election owing to the influence of the state government at the time.
Since then, I’ve served in important committees. I was part of the Presidential Campaign Council and served as Deputy Legal Adviser in the 2023 presidential election.
In 2024, I was appointed into the Tax Appeal Tribunal, where we have contributed significantly to improving tax revenue in Nigeria. Today, tax accounts for over 65% of national revenue. That is my background. Thank you so much.
This is impressive. You have an intimidating profile, and we are excited about it. Let’s come to the main issue. What do you have for the people of Akure North and South that warrants your ambition to represent them at the National Assembly?
For a long time, I’ve been in the progressive family, and our people have been unfortunate since 1983. Akure is one of the oldest federal constituencies in Nigeria.
In the past, Akure had strong and respected representation in national politics. But since the Fourth Republic, we have taken a back seat due to the quality of representation we have sent to the House of Representatives.
We have sent people who are mere observers, who cannot point to any meaningful legislative contribution.
That is why I am running—to bring Akure back to the centre of national discourse and development.
This is happening at a time when the Southwest Development Commission has been established by the current administration, which is crucial for regional development.
During the First Republic, when we had Action Group, we had strong infrastructure, free education and free healthcare. But after the 1966 unification decree, many regional advantages were lost.
Now, we are advocating for true fiscal federalism—where regions control their resources and contribute to the federal government.
Akure has cocoa, timber, granite and agricultural resources, but we are not benefiting from them as we should. We need proper legislation to revive these sectors and bring prosperity back to our people. That is why I am running—to bring a strong voice to the parliament.
We have seen cases of brilliant people going to the National Assembly but at the end perform below expectation. What has been the problem?
Past representatives have not been honest to our people. Honesty and integrity are central to representation. Representation requires people who cannot be easily compromised.
I have a record of integrity and professional success. I am comfortable and not desperate, so I can speak boldly for my people.
I am from Ita-Ogbolu. I also have deep roots in Akure and come from a recognised ruling house, so I cannot abandon my people.
We must look at pedigree—what has a candidate done himself and for the party? Someone who has not succeeded personally cannot help others.
I have been consistent within the party structure for decades. When President Tinubu was called upon to deputise for Buhari, he said not yet; let us build the party. Likewise, I have been involved in building the party.
I am one of the children who grew under Baba Fasoranti. I attended Omolere. He taught us Omoluabi ethos and it had abided in us.
What are the core responsibilities of a member of House of Representatives?
The core responsibility of a House of Representatives member is to represent the people and make laws. For example, challenges affecting cocoa production—from planting to marketing—can be addressed through legislation. We must collaborate with other representatives facing similar issues and create laws that benefit all.
Currently, we also have oversight functions over government agencies to ensure they serve the people effectively.
As for my manifesto, it is simple. We must redefine empowerment. Giving people food is not empowerment—it is temporary relief. True empowerment means equipping people with the means to sustain themselves.
So what we are going to do, if elected or when elected, is to bring about a legislative approach to the intervention, the social intervention of people’s welfare. What am I talking about? What I’m talking about are the two basic groups of people facing challenges that call for this kind of empowerment.
One category is the youth—young people who have probably graduated or learnt a trade but cannot get employment. Another category is our retired and elderly people—those who have retired from service or who can no longer work due to sickness or age, both women and men who are already past retirement age.
So, we intend to work on legislation that will empower these two sets of people. How do we do that? We are going to introduce what we call a Social Entrepreneurship Act for young people.
The Social Entrepreneurship Act, which we are already drafting, is essentially to cater to people who have graduated but are not yet employed. They will have a right to payment from their nearest local government. It will be institutionalised; it will be a right.
If you are registered with NIN and you have a BVN account, then you can get paid. This is done all over the world. Ours is coming late—the Social Security Act and the Social Entrepreneurship Act.
The Entrepreneurship Act will cater to those who are unemployed or trade amateurs who are not working but take care of their homes.
Now, the Social Security Act will cater to elderly people—those who are retired or cannot work due to age or illness. They are alive and must live. So, we must make it a matter of legislation, a right that they can even go to court to enforce if they do not receive it. That is number one.
Number two: We want to focus on agriculture. I have alluded to this before. We need to have specific legislation on agriculture, especially our cash crop programmes—timber, colanut, cocoa and others.
We need laws covering their renewal, regeneration, planting, nurturing, cultivation, harvesting, storage, packaging and sales, both locally and internationally.
We have the Cocoa Association of Nigeria, and there is already a law on cocoa, but it has not been effective. So we need a new, effective law that makes cocoa planting, cultivation, harvesting, packaging and storage attractive to our youth population. We need laws that incentivise direct cultivation of these crops.
Another thing we will address is poor planning, which is a major cause of poverty. There is no way to solve poverty without statistics. There is no way to solve it without knowing our population and its characteristics.
As an economist, I understand the importance of statistics. We need to know how many we are. The current President has an idea about census, but the law governing it is outdated. We need a new law to support a data-driven, biometric census.
This is one of the things I am going to the National Assembly to push for—a biometric-supported census system. With this, we will know students, youth, workers, farmers, traders, artisans and all demographic groups. We will know gender distribution, infant population—everything.
With accurate data, we can plan effectively. We currently do not know our growth rate or population projections accurately. Existing statistics from agencies like the National Population Commission are not always reliable.
Once we integrate biometric data into our system, we can ensure authenticity and accuracy. With that, planning becomes easier. We will know how many people are entering the workforce, who should go into technology, agriculture, service, or production.
We won’t wait until problems arise before planning—we will anticipate needs ahead of time. That is how functional systems operate in other democracies. Thank you so much.
Now, regarding your party’s primary election and the issue of consensus: are you relying on the argument that your area, Akure North, has been marginalised, since Akure South has produced representatives for years?
For me, it goes beyond geopolitical zoning. Yes, it is true that Akure North has not produced a representative since 1999, but I believe in merit. The best person for the job should be chosen.
If zoning produces a candidate who is not the best, what happens? So I am competing on merit, experience and maturity.
Why do I believe I am the best? I have strong academic and professional training. I studied economics and law, graduating among the best in my class in both. I am also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
I have run successful businesses. I have paid salaries to many employees. I currently run a publishing firm that publishes the Federal Tax Law Reports, where I serve as publisher and editor-in-chief. I also run a law and tax practice.
Many others have not managed anything. If you have not run anything, it is difficult to deliver results.
I trained at a top law firm (Olanihun Ajayi), and that experience shaped me. So I am ready, qualified and experienced.
What if the consensus arrangement does not produce you as candidate?
Even if the party adopts consensus, the Electoral Act allows for direct primaries if consensus fails. I have implicit faith in the party leadership to choose the best candidate. I can bet it with anybody that among the candidates, I am the best man for the job.
I have a strong track record of loyalty. I have supported the party through all elections, even after losing in the past. My loyalty to Mr President and the Governor of the state is total and undiluted. President Tinubu is a president I can go to war on his behalf.
When we conducted the primary election that produced Governor Aiyedatiwa, I was the returning officer for Ita-Ogbolu and Iju.
I have never defected. I am a progressive by conviction and will remain so.
I have played key roles in past elections and party activities. The leadership knows my commitment and capability. I am confident that I can represent the constituency effectively and deliver results both at the national level and back home.
I want you to talk on the current crisis between INEC and ADC. The ADC is trying to blame your party for the crisis. I want you to react to that.
On the issue of political tensions involving other parties, I prefer not to interfere in their internal matters. However, political parties must be built on strong foundations. Those who did not build a party may not fully understand its structure.
A builder understands the foundation of what he has built. Many of those making allegations today were not foundational members of any party but beneficiaries of existing structures. It is the hostile takeover of ADC that has imploded on their faces.
That is why such takeovers often fail—they lack the understanding that comes from building something from the ground up.
When you account for assets and liability of that entity, you are able to know the exposures, the risk and how to devise strategy to manage the risk. If they have done their due diligence, they will know very well, and they will be properly advised by their own lawyers; the constitution of ADC prescribes that for you to hold an executive position within that party, you must have spent six months as a member of that party. The day they became a party member, that is July 29, 2025, was the day they became a member of the party, and they will know in the constitution of ADC that you have to go to your ward to take a party card, and not the outgoing chairman of the party, Nwosu, that will now hand them over in Abuja, at the national headquarters of the party. The card they gave them that day is useless in law, pretty useless. So they are still not yet members. When they want to join properly, they will ask for their ward, if they still know it.
And like the president said a few days ago when he was meeting the ambassadors-designate, he said maybe they need glasses, for them to be able to understand and read well what the constitution of ADC is all about, and then to begin to enforce and implement those processes. Because you cannot run away from the due process of law. Democracy begins from the rule of law, because every democratic entity is established by law.
So, the rule of law emanates from due process of law. Due process of law is obedience, is understanding of the tenet statement of law and following it in truth. That is due process of law. And the law is: you become a member of the party in your ward. You should go there, to your ward and become properly a member of ADC. Once they have become members, they wait for six months, then they can now become executives of the party.
So these are things they want to scale over. That is creating crisis. You should also know that before you came to the party, it is not only the chairman of the party that will sign off on the takeover documentation. They are calling it merger. What are they merging? Who is merging with whom?
In 2015, we saw different entities—CPC, ACN, ANPP and then APGA. They were talking, they were merging. There was a merger. But there is another concept in law apart from merger: takeover. So these people took over. Whether you are taking over or merging, you must follow the due process of law, and from the due process of law, you must be guided by the rule of law.
A suit was filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe on September 2025, with an expedited hearing and an affidavit of urgency. The judge at the Federal High Court heard the matter on September 4, 2025. He said he could not give such an order without hearing the other side. In the spirit of fair hearing, he asked that the other side be heard.
He then gave an order to show cause why he should not grant the orders being requested. Like I said in a previous television interview, justice is not just your own interpretation. Justice is not about your own idea or vision. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa once said, “Justice is a triple standard: justice to the accused, justice to the complainant, and justice to society.”
So the judge was fair-minded. He said he could not grant the order without hearing the other parties. He asked that David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola be put on notice to explain why the order should not be granted. Instead of engaging a lawyer to appear in court, they went to the Court of Appeal.
When the Court of Appeal heard them, it asked “where is the order you are appealing? What are you appealing against? No order had been given against anyone’s interest. The lower court had only asked them to come and show cause.”
They wasted months doing nothing and then claimed they were directed to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal held that nothing could be appealed, but in the interest of justice, directed that the matter be heard expeditiously.
Coming to court is a serious business of law. It is not something to be done with levity or frivolity. After their actions, the matter was sent back to the Federal High Court for accelerated hearing.
If they had complied initially, the matter could have been resolved within a week. It is incorrect to suggest that the judiciary has a hand in their problem.
Some people say the opposition is weak and that we are contributing to weaken it. I disagree. The opposition is strong and vibrant. They have presence in every local government and ward. They participate in elections and field candidates. That is not a weak party.
A truly weak party cannot deploy agents across polling units. If a party can place agents in all polling units, then it is not weak. The problem is not strength, but strategy. They lack planning, due diligence and effective strategy.
Power is not an emotional doctrine; it is strategic and patient. Look at how long it took Asiwaju before a successful presidential bid—from 2007 to 2023. That is over a decade of planning, building support, and preparation.
He won, despite the challenges of fuel scarcity and naira redesign.
Some claim they won the 2023 elections, but where are the results? The official results come from polling unit forms duly signed by INEC officials, police and party agents. Claims without evidence are not valid.
They went to court asking for disqualification and a new election, yet publicly claimed victory. That contradiction shows impractical thinking, which leads to failure. It has led to failure since 2007.
The solution is simple. First, they should pursue reconciliation and equitable power-sharing with the Nafiu Bala Gombe camp. Equity builds trust. Without trust, disputes will continue.
Second, they should consider aligning with a stable political party and conduct proper due diligence before any merger or takeover. That is because they can no longer form a new party
Third, they can return to their former political base and rebuild a stronger opposition. They should eat the humble pie, go and beg Wike like the prodigal son, then rebuild PDP. Thereafter, they can come and confront us. We are ready for them. We are not after a walkover in 2027. That Wike is serving in Asiwaju’s government doesn’t matter. Bola Ige served under Obasanjo. UK is currently ruled by a coalition, same thing with Israel.
They must embrace negotiation, fairness and strategy. Only then can they become a credible opposition. Otherwise, they will continue to struggle.