Featured

Why Andrew Oscar Lee Was Taken For A Kidnapper Rather Than A Gigolo

Published

3 years ago

February 14, 2022

The Competent Governance For Accountability And Civic Trust (CGACT) has refuted claims that Hon. Precious Ajaini ordered his boys to dehumanized Andrew Oscar.

This was contains in a press released in Abuja on Monday, Omoba Michael, National Coordinator of Competent Governance For Accountability And Civic Trust.

There is a popular phrase: to every smoke, there is a fire. This is the best description between Hon. Precious Ajaini and Andrew Oscar Lee.

These two are sons of same soil in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, Oghara to be precise. And understanding their background with help clear the air of misconstrue or better still, share a little or more light into the present state of things. It will explain questions like “why did the former Chairman’s spouse act the way she did? And the purpose of the police involvement” and also give deep insight into the personality of this guy called Andrew Oscar Lee”

Hon. Precious Ajaini is a popular figure. He is a man who attracts both sides of the society. He was a former councilor, Chairman and currently Direct Labour Director General (DG) of Delta State. Sometime in 11/11/12, a day to his inauguration as the Mayor of Ethiope West, some gunmen rode on a bike fully arm with rifle to kidnap him and subsequent to the 11/11/12, one of his wives had been kidnapped. After further investigation on the incident, it was gathered that some members of his community were the brain box. The strategy employed according to the feedback of the investigation is the assumption that his wives are loners. And in April 2015 he was almost kidnapped again. And both cases were reported to the Oghara Police station in Ethiope West LGA.

Andrew Oscar Lee on the other hand knows the said man very well because he is the former Chairman of Andrews LGA. Andrew recently got married to a lady he refers to as “a small girl who knows nothing”. Some of his folks are of the opinion that he is a gigolo because of his interest in rich women.

So when Hon. Precious wife came up with the chat of Andrew Oscar, it was same strategy earlier employed in the kidnapping of one if his wife. And the Hon. became very careful and decided to use his wife to lure him to the open. And this also coincided with the many recent threat.

Since the Hon. is a former councillor and Chairman, he has no doubt built a strong support base as a politician and philanthropist. And the news of the threat to his life has already been out through the communal grapevine which alerted many of his supporters. The violence melted on Andrew Oscar was not authorized by Hon. Precious Ajaini as insinuated. it will be of interest to know that those who came out when he was rounded up were over 300 persons including passerby, who thought he was a kidnapper because kidnapping is a trending crime in Ethiope West LGA.

On that faithful, almost all and sundry felt Oscar was a criminal. However, it was when he was in the bossom of the police that it was discovered that his intent were sexually incline. So on this premise, Andrew was a victim of misinterpreted intent. Although, he anticipated adultery doesn’t mean he committed adultery. He actually did not commit any crime against the law or against laws of the land or neither is making of advances to a married woman a crime. But with the recent unfolding in that environment can make whatever innocent intentions of Andrew be misconstrued. And in addition to that, such strategy has been used on the Chairman before now when one of his wives was kidnapped and he paid a huge ransom. Like the saying goes: once bitten twice shy. It’s a common knowledge that most kidnapped cases in that environment are done through sexual advances. Some unsuspecting criminal element in that environment goes through the vulnerability of the wives of their target to get to the target.

So when Andrew was rounded up by the youths, and the beating started, it was Hon. Precious who called in the police to save Andrews life from the mob wasn’t to intimidate him because the police had already be pre-informed. They just wanted question him on their suspicion nothing more

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook