TheCable

Donald Duke, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are among the few presidential candidates who made public their tax record.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had posted details of 59 presidential candidates at its headquarters in Abuja.

While Atiku said he paid N10.2 million as tax in three years, Duke paid N500,000 in three years. Duke added that he earned N5.6 million between 2015 and 2017.

He said this in his tax clearance form issued by the Cross River State Internal Revenue Service, which was submitted to INEC

The document, seen by TheCable, is among the particulars he submitted to the commission, as required from all the presidential candidates.

Duke, a former governor of Cross River state, said while he earned N1,763,157 in 2015, he earned N1,894,736 and N1,960,526 in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

He added that while he paid N150,000 as tax in 2015, he paid tax of N170,000 and N180,000 in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

However, while the constitution compels citizens to pay tax, it did not list tax clearance as a compulsory prerequisite to contest in the presidential election.

When contacted, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, INEC director of publicity and voter education, told TheCable tax clearance is not a compulsory requirement to contest in the presidential election.