In January 2006, Taiwo was called up to the Nigeria squad for the African Cup of Nations in Egypt. He started the tournament well by scoring the national side's first goal of the tournament, in a 1–0 win against Ghana. He then helped Nigeria win the next two matches to help the national side go through to the knockout stage. Taiwo played the whole game against Tunisia in the quarter–final, which led to penalty shootout following a 1–1 draw, and successfully converted the penalty, as Nigeria won 6–5 in the shootout. He later helped the national side finish third place in the tournament after beating Senegal 1–0 in the third place play–off.