The Anambra State Internal Revenue Service has dismissed the claims made by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, that SABMiller Breweries is the highest taxpayer in the state.

According to a press statement released on Thursday, the Chairman, AIRS, Dr Greg Ezeilo, said a check on the last two years data by the agency showed that SABMiller company came a distant sixth position behind Fidelity Bank Plc.

Ezeilo was reacting to the statement credited to Obi, where he said SABMiller, built by his administration when he was the state governor, is the highest tax payer in the state.

The former Anambra State governor stated this last Friday while addressing a gathering of Labour Party stalwarts and supporters at the All Saints Cathedral field, Onitsha, Anambra State, during the campaign flag-off of Labour Party candidate for the November 8, 2025 governorship election in the state, Dr George Moghalu, and his running mate,.

READ ALSO:What Buhari Told Me During My Campaign — Peter Obi

“You can assess yourselves, governance for me is about compassion and empathy, caring for the lowly, petty traders. It is not these same poor masses you tax. Instead of ensuring they feed well and go to school.

“I have governed Anambra State and I don’t boast of things I didn’t do, they are verifiable.

“You might have heard that the only thing they said I did was to build brewery, but the same brewery gave employment to thousands of people. The brewery I built is the highest tax payer in the state and boosts the Internally Generated Revenue.

“You can compare that with the Fun City you have today, which one is more profitable? We chose a female deputy governor because we want to care for families, she is not only popular, but organised,” Obi stated.

READ ALSO:Obi: Concerns as factional LP Chair, Abure, Visits Wike

But while dismissing Obi’s claims, Ezeilo, said contrary to his claims, SABMiller contributed on the average, N28 million per month in 2023 and N26.62 million per month in 2024, thereby becoming the sixth ranked tax paying company in the state.

Ezeilo said the clarifications became necessary to properly situate the claims made by the former governor and to give undiluted information for the members of the public to note.

The statement read in part, “The attention of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service has been drawn to some public domain of claims regarding the fact that SABMiller Breweries is the highest taxpayer in the state.

“For the avoidance of doubts, while the Service has made very monumental strides in increasing the internally generally revenue of the State from its very low ebb of between N1.5bn to N2.0bn per month, and even much lower in the previous years; the tax collection has consistently moved up to N4bn per month and with an all-time high of N10.5bn in the month of May, 2025.

READ ALSO:2027: Peter Obi Speaks On Running For President, Deal With Atiku

“A double-check on the last two years data on tax collections across corporate bodies, including SABMiller, but excluding Federal Institutions which contribute hugely to the state’s IGR, especially the pay as you earn taxes, showed the position of top six taxpayers in the state.

“Interestingly, SABMiller company comes a distant sixth position behind Fidelity Bank Plc with a gross tax payment of N656.5 million in two years (2023 and 2024).

“In this sense, the claim can be dissmissd with a wave of hand as the company in question contributed on the average, N28million per month in 2023 and N26.62million per month in 2024.

“The above clarifications became necessary to properly situate the claims made by the former governor and to give undiluted information for the members of the public to note.

“Additionally, there’s the need to provide answers to certain public inquiries either to prove or disprove the claims as published in the media. Please accept the esteemed assurances of the Service.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communication and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, has described the resignation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2027 election, as “good riddance to bad rubbish”.

The PUNCH reports that former Atiku resigned from the PDP in a letter dated July 16, 2025, addressed to the Chairman of his Jada 1 Ward in Adamawa State, citing “irreconcilable differences” in the party, while describing his exit as a heartbreaking decision, being a founding father of the party.

Speaking on Thursday on Channels Television breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, Olayinka noted that with the former VP’s exit, the party could gather itself together.

He said, “Well, my first reaction yesterday was that, Atiku Abubakar leaving the PDP, to me, is good riddance to bad rubbish. It is like how our Hausa people will say ‘sai gobe’. One thing I would have loved to see in the reportage yesterday was that the headline should have been ‘Atiku Abubakar leaves PDP again.’

READ ALSO:Why I Resigned From PDP – Atiku

“Because he has been leaving. Since 2007, he has been leaving. So if he chose to leave now, fine. Then the party can now begin to look at itself and bring itself together again. Unfortunately, it is too late, because like I’ve said many times, Atiku Abubakar happened to be like the weapon fashioned against the PDP.”

Addressing Atiku’s alliance with the coalition under the African Democratic Congress, the media aide cited Atiku’s anti-party moves against the PDP, noting that Atiku may yet return to the PDP if his journey in the coalition did not favour him.

“In 2003, PDP’s effort to win Lagos State was frustrated by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar when he was Vice-President, and that was how anti-party started in PDP. In 2018, you can google it, when he went to Lagos, he personally apologised for the role he played in frustrating the effort of the PDP to win Lagos State in 2003.

“In 2007, Atiku Abubakar holds the record of the first Nigerian as vice-president, sitting vice-president, that went to another party, while still holding the mandate of the PDP as vice-president. He went and formed Action Congress with the other people, and he contested as presidential candidate of Action Congress in 2007, even as a sitting vice-president, holding the mandate of the PDP.

READ ALSO:Atiku Formally Resigns From PDP

“In 2014, it was the same Atiku Abubakar that led the rebellion, that pulled down the PDP, that took the PDP out of power. The only thing that interests Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is to be president of Nigeria, and I begin to wonder, is it that a doctor prescribed presidency to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, so that if you don’t become president, something will happen to you? Because that is the way it is.

“The only thing that is important to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is Atiku and Abubakar. The moment he’s in this party, he cannot get a ticket to contest, he moves to another party. And let me also say this. Write this one down. After this experiment in their coalition, which me I call coalition of confusion, he will still leave their coalition and probably come back to the PDP, as he has been doing,” he said.

Olayinka also faulted Atiku’s release of his resignation letter while the country was still mourning the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari, stating, “The same Atiku has been in Daura, he could not even wait for the seven days mourning period of Buhari to end before making a political decision, I don’t understand why somebody would be so desperate to this extent.”

He advised the PDP to begin putting its house in order, stating however that it may not be necessarily for the PDP to “make a good showing” in 2027.

“What I believe is that the PDP should now begin to put its house in order. It might not be necessarily to make a good showing next year, I mean 2027, because it is very close now,” he said.

Labour Party Presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi, has reminisced about his encounter with the late former Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, during a political campaign.

Obi described the former Nigerian military Head of State and President as a man whose sincere appeal to fight for the poor stood out.

Peter Obi, who was fielding questions from reporters at the Third Day Prayers organised in honour of the late former Nigerian leader, Buhari, said leaders must “learn how to serve our country, knowing that one day we will all be called back by our creator.”

READ ALSO:Why I Didn’t Attend Buhari’s Burial – Peter Obi

He said, “I had the opportunity of meeting late Muhammadu Buhari while I was campaigning, and I remember his words till today, and he said to me, please care for the poor Nigerians, and that is all I always remember, and I believe he did his best within his capacity.”

On what Nigerians need to learn from late Buhari, Peter Obi said, “We have to all learn how to serve our country, knowing that one day we will all be called back by our creator.”

According to Peter Obi, “Buhari’s sincere appeal for fighting and caring for the poor” is are perfect description of a man who lived a life of simplicity.

READ ALSO:2027: ADC Won’t Handover Structures To Atiku, Obi, Amaechi, Others – Lukman

President Bola Tinubu and other top dignitaries received the body of the former president Buhari on arrival at the Katsina International airport on Tuesday before leaving for Daura for a state burial.

Muhammadu Buhari died on Sunday in a London hospital after a brief illness. He has since been buried according to Islamic rites in his Daura home amidst tears from thousands of sympathisers who thronged his residence to pay their last respect to the former Nigerian president.