Connect with us

Featured

How Youth Minister’s Timely Visit Averted Further Blood Bath In Ogbomosho

Published

on

….As Ogbomoso Muslim Community thanks Minister Dare for his intervention.

Joel Ajayi

The cloud was covered by hullabaloo and bloodshed in Ogbomoso on 11th October, as police confrontation with #EndSars protesters resulted in the death of one person and the injury of several people in the town.

It took the timely intervention of the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, who has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he is a man of peace and an advocate of youth wellbeing, to avert further bloodshed in the ancient town of Ogbomoso.

Sunday Dare was the first senior government official to arrive at Ogbomosho on hearing the scary report of the crisis that erupted during the #EndSars protest the day before. The report has it that the protesters were attacked by the Nigerian police which led to the killing of one of the protesters and scores injured.

The Minister on hearing the report swung into action by sending one of his aides in Ogbomoso, his hometown, to the scene and ordered that the victims be taken to the hospital and treated. He footed the hospital bills and paid for surgery fees for the removal of bullets on the legs of two protesters.

Furthermore, the Minister was the first senior government official to pay a condolence visit to the family of Jimoh Isiaka, a young vibrant boy who was shot during the crisis between police and the protesters. The Minister also visited injured teenagers at the Bowen Hospital, Ogbomoso, both victims of police stray bullets.

Mr. Dare vehemently condemned the shooting and attack on the #EndSars protesters by the police in a report and immediately demanded a thorough investigation of what led to the crisis.

A report on the incident reads: “It is important for the police force to fish out officers that have been involved in extrajudicial killings, violations, and harassment of the youths be brought to justice. He assured the youths of the government’s efforts to ensure that their demands are meet.”

In a bid to find a lasting solution to the crisis, the Minister arranged a meeting with the traditional ruler, the Soun of Ogbomoso, the Council of Chiefs, and other community leaders and the DSS at the palace to review the situation. During the meeting, a number of irate youth attacked the palace, destroying property and endangering lives. It took the combined effort of police officers on the ground to rescue the situation.

Here is the Minister’s statement after the attack on the palace:

“It was while the meeting was going on that hoodlums, thugs, and other miscreants stormed the palace to disrupt the meeting. As expected, my security operatives responded to protect me, the Soun, his chiefs, other leaders that were in attendance, and the NTA Reporter and Parrot FM journalist. My orderly and DSS operatives scurried us into safety upstairs and stayed with us to fully protect us. They did not fire a shot during the confusion created by the hoodlums.  It is still unfathomable how such a coordinated attack could be unleashed so swiftly.

 

“The rampaging protesters broke into the palace, destroyed chairs, overturned tables, and broke windows and every valuable thing on sight. I want to state that I do not believe that the people that invaded the Palace of Soun of Ogbomoso were neither Youth nor Students. They were miscreants and thugs who saw a window of opportunity in the genuine protest against SARS by peaceful protesters.”

 

The Minister further demanded that the Inspector General of Police (IG) facilitate the release of youth arrested by police during the peaceful protest.

“Reports reaching me personally and out there in the media reveal that a number of our youth are under arrests, while some continue to suffer harassments and threats to life for participating in the #EndSARS protest. In the new spirit of change, rapprochement, and expected reforms that are sweeping through the entire Police Force, kindly use your good office to authorize a signal to be sent to all police formations and stations to free these youth and to stop the intimidation of those who participated in the protests in any form.

Peace has since restored to the ancient city of Ogbomoso following the Minister and the Monarch’s appeal to the youth.

“I once again join the Soun of Ogbomoso and other leaders to appeal to the youth for calm in the face of police brutality which must stop. We must all work together to give peace a chance.”

No doubt, the Youth Minister’s presence, and other stakeholders’ interventions averted further bloodshed in Ogbomoso. He was a steady hand in the midst of a very trying situation. He deserves commendation for being alert and taking action and seeking to engage

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

Trending

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)