• Demands Suspension of Xpress Payment Solutions as TSA Agent

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday raised series of questions over the rationale behind the appointment of a company, Xpress Payment Solutions, as a new TSA collecting agent in the country.

Demanding that “the Federal Government must come clean with Nigerians,” Atiku said the “quiet appointment of Xpress Payments Solutions Limited” is not an administrative decision.

“It is a dangerous resurrection of the Alpha Beta revenue cartel that dominated Lagos State during and after the Tinubu years,” the former vice president alleged.

He told Nigerians that the model created what he described as “a private toll gate around public revenue and funnelled state funds into the hands of a politically connected monopoly.”

In a statement made available on his X handle Sunday morning, Atiku said, “What we are witnessing now is the attempt to nationalise that same template, moving Nigeria from a republic to a private holding company controlled by a small circle of vested interests.

“To introduce such a policy in the middle of a national tragedy, while Nigerians are mourning loved ones lost to the deepening insecurity crisis, is not only insensitive, it is a deliberate act of governance by stealth.” Atiku said that Nigeria is currently grieving, noting that “leadership should show empathy and focus on securing lives, not on expanding private revenue pipelines.”

Asking what he called “fundamental questions,” Atiku demanded, “Why was this appointment rushed and smuggled into the public space without consultation, stakeholder engagement, or National Assembly oversight? What value does Xpress Payments add that existing TSA channels do not already provide? Who truly benefits from this? Nigeria or an entrenched political network?”

Saying the latest development is not reform, Atiku said  “this is state capture masquerading as digital innovation.”

He went further, “Let me be clear: Nigeria does not need more middlemen between citizens and their government revenue. What we need is greater transparency, stronger institutions, and a tax system free from political capture.

I therefore call for the following: 1. Immediate suspension of the Xpress Payments appointment pending a public inquiry; 2. Full disclosure of the contractual terms, beneficiaries, fee structures, and selection criteria; 3. A comprehensive audit of TSA operations to prevent the creeping privatisation of revenue collection; 4. A legal framework, not executive shortcuts, that prohibits the insertion of private proxies into core government revenue systems; 5. A national security priority shift, recognising that a country under assault cannot afford economic governance conducted in the shadows. Nigeria’s revenues are not political spoils. They are the lifeblood of our national survival, especially at a time when insecurity is tearing communities apart. The government must abandon this Lagos-style revenue cartelisation and return to the path of transparency, constitutionalism, and public accountability.