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Group Sacks Coordinator for Threatening Pilgrim Boss With Protest

Published

2 years ago

November 6, 2022

….. My purported sack is orchestrated
sponsored, is null and void…Olukayode
Comrade John Olukayode, has reacted to his removal as the Coordinator of Civil Right Action Against Corruption C RAAC, saying the action is ” null and void”

” I was not elected through press briefing, I was elected through a laid down procedures. My purported removal is being sponsored by some All Progressive Congress ( APC ) chieftain who are out to use Pam to justify the Muslim/ Muslim ticket “

” The haste with which this people moved to discredit the planned protest will by no means discourage our determinations until pam is brought to book”

Olukayode vowed to release documents to the media to clear himself saying ” it is a case of corruption fighting back”

Recall that The Civil Rights Action Against Corruption, CRAAC has fired it’s national coordinator, Comrade John Olukayode for cheap blackmail and threat protest against the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Pilgrim Commission, Rev Yakubu Pam.
Addressing a joint press conference in Abuja weekend, Comrade Paul Katuka,
Musa Imam Kogi, Joshua Obukohwo and David Gizo said Comrade John Olukayode arbitrary used the rights group platform to blackmail a public official without the consent of at least two third of the anti corruption group.

“We are here to disassociate ourselves from the recent manifestation of what has clearly become an act of campaign of calumny and blackmail against Rev Yakubu Pam, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pligrim Commission by one of us.”

Continuing, the group said: “the unsubstantiated outburst made against the man of God by the Coordinator of our group is unbecoming of a person of his standing”.

“Our reference here is the recent misleading story published in the Vanguard newspapers titled “Same faitho ticket: Anti graft body asks Pam to resign as Christian Pilgrims’ boss”. What a misleading statement from a supposedly leader of a civil society group and one that is ideally, a straight forward person!

“We the bonafide members of the Civil Rights Action Against Corruption wish to commend and identify with well meaning groups and patriotic individuals that have been condemning the puerile, odious, infantile, wicked, treacherous and devil inspired campaign of calumny and distraction against Rev Pam embarked by our Coordinator.

“We are particularly excited by the position of the larger majority of the our members and leaders which, after our special meeting today Saturday, November 5, 2022 concluded that the statement credited to our Coordinator is not only lacking in evidence but also an outlandish falsehood that cannot be substantiated and devoid of all truth.

According them, the coordinator was invited to the meeting and was given ample opportunity to defend or substantiate his wild allegation and misplaced aggression against a pastor, Rev Pam but he failed to show up.

“It is pertinent to note that the meeting resolved to hereby tender unreserved apology to Rev Pam for the campaign of calumny and distraction by the estwhile coordinator of our group.

“In the same vein, following our findings that the statement of our Coordinator was abnitio, the product of the figment of a dimmed imagination. Comrade John Olukayode is hereby sacked and permanently expelled from the organization”.

In his place, Comrade Paul Katuka was elected as Acting Coordinator of the group.

“It tells much of the gravity of our former coordinator’s gaffe that, not only we the rank and cadres of the organization are condemning him but also that the larger members of the Nigerian society across the religious and regional divides.

“This brings us to the task of analyzing the motive of our former coordinator’s reckless statement against Rev Pam. To us in CRAAC, there is no other meaning to the infamous statement beside it being a clear sponsored campaign of calumny, blackmail and distraction against Rev Pam. It was patently intended to de-market the remarkable progress the Commission has achieved under his leadership and set in motion the process of destroying the fabrics of his reformative agenda. In the least, destructive action in such a circumstance, lead to the uprooting of his tender and budding flowers of progress in the Commission.

“Our final take on the imfamous and unfortunate statement credited to him is that, he should have known better and we believe that he was well aware of the full import and implications of the contents of his ferfidious allegation. He also cannot be over looked for tarnishing the image of a selfless public servant, at over fourty years he is not an infant whose actions of blackmail and mischief may be excused as the boisterous antics of a cantankerous adolescence”.

CRAAC under Comrade John Olukayode had accused the NCPC boss of complicit in sponsoring some activities of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu thus threatening a protest against his continuation in office.

Comrade Olukayode has been at large after addressing a press conference last week.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D

The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.

The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.

In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”

The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.

The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.

Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.

In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.

Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.

Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.

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