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It was a slap on the face of decorum. The official broke loose from the crowd and grabbed the cameraman recording the scene. The official, identified as Benin-City Airport Manager, took the camera and smashed it. Many in the crowd were aghast. The crowd had gathered following a row between officials of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and those of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue over alleged tax default and scene was the Benin-City Airport last Tuesday.
Trouble started around 5 a.m. when officials of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue, allegedly acting on an order issued by a High Court in Benin-City, stormed the airport and sealed off the administrative office of FAAN over the latter’s alleged refusal to remit N15million collected from its staff as Pay as You Earn (PAYE) tax, to the Edo government.
But after the officials of the Revenue Board left the airport, rather than making moves to pay the outstanding tax, the Airport Manager, Mr Sunday Ayodele, was alleged to have locked up both the entry and exit gates of the airport, an action that led to gridlock along the ever busy Airport Road. Passengers travelling out of Benin-City through the airport were stranded and the impression was that the state government shut down the airport.
The drama brought to mind the controversy that trailed the handing over of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2, Ikeja, Lagos, by the Ministry of Aviation and FAAN to Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited in 2009, which legal tussle ended on 13 February, 2013, after a Federal High Court, presided over by Justice A.R. Mohammed, struck out the suit filed by the Aviation Ministry and FAAN over the concession of the MMA2. When the chairman of the Edo State Revenue Board, Chief Useni Elamah, learnt that the entire airport had been shut down, he rushed back to the airport where he met the state Commissioner of Police, Foluso Adebanjo, and officials of the Department of State Security (DSS).
A heated argument ensued between the Revenue Board boss and Ayodele who, in the presence of the CP, alleged that it was Elamah who shut the entire airport. But Elamah explained that the Board only shut the FAAN administrative building and not the entire airport in pursuit of the money owed the state government. The Revenue Board boss therefore said since he was being accused of shutting the airport, he was going to force the gates of the airport open, which he did.
But as if acting a script, the Airport Manager allegedly pounced on the camera man of the Board, who was covering the scene and destroyed the camera just as he was said to have torn the cameraman’s clothes. This was allegedly done in the full glare of police officers present. Elamah, narrating the incident, said, “It is sad that the FAAN Manager is trying to give the impression that Edo State government sealed up the entire airport.
What happened was that they are owing us N15million deductable from workers from PAYE. This matter has been on. There was a time we had to resort to judicial means to get our money. They owed since 2011. We have written to them on several occasions to play their part but they refused. We came here this morning and sealed only the administrative building of FAAN, but when we left, the Manager went and locked up the two gates making it look as if the state government locked them up. They want to blackmail the state government but they have failed”. When asked for his comments, Ayodele refused to speak to journalists.
Detention
The drama took a twist when the Revenue Board chairman was arrested and detained by the police, allegedly on the order of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar. Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who arrived Benin from Lagos in the midst of the crisis, condemned the arrest of Elamah and wondered why the police should arrest someone who went to enforce an order from a competent court..
Oshiomhole said: “This morning, the Board of Internal Revenue went to serve a restraining order on the administrative office of FAAN, at the airport. It was done in a way to ensure that it does not affect the operations of the airport knowing that the airport is a public place and, as much as we want to collect taxes due to government, we want to do so without inflicting any inconveniences or pain on third party travelers who are not party to the issue of tax evasion. However, once the Manager’s office was sealed, he in turn in order to attract national attention and dramatize the issue, decided on his own to shut down the airport. He shut down the arrival and departure halls to ensure that nobody was able to go into the airport.
His office, as you know, is several hundred meters outside the airport premises itself and therefore the sealing up of his office could not have in any way affected the airport”.
Untold hardship
According to the governor, “to put it on record that Edo Government did not or we have no reason to shut down the airport, we believe it was possible to get the FAAN to pay their tax obligation without causing untold hardship to air travellers”.
Unilateral action
He continued: “ So, the closure of the airport has been unilaterally effected by the Airport Manager who wanted to shield himself or use the airport as a shield namely, deducting PAYE from employees of FAAN and not paying to Edo State government in accordance with the law. It is also important to point out that the restraining order was issued by a competent High Court.
The Revenue Board did not use thugs or other persons to forcefully seal the Manager’s Office, that was done based on court order.
It is also important to emphasize that the issue of PAYE and the obligation of the employer to remit taxes so collected from employees to the state government is a federal law,it is not a state law, but even if it is a state law it is valid. “But just to emphasis that this is a federal law and therefore being a federal agency does not shield any agency from meeting its tax obligation. In the past, in accordance with the law, we have had cause on the basis of court order to lock up a number of banks, a number of private businesses and a number of federal agencies.
Rule of law
“The logic of the rule of law is that every body is under the law, no one can be seen to be above the law. It is our responsibility as government at all levels to obey the law”. The governor alleged that the only thing that surprised him was that the Airport Manager assaulted members of the Revenue Board publicly. “There is nothing in law that allows an official to assault a journalist or indeed assault any person on account that he is not happy because he was asked to pay tax. I have been a bit embarrassed that the Police Commissioner has arrested the Revenue Board chairman and I have asked him to release him but he insists that his arrest was on the order of the IGP,” Oshiomhole said.
“I have thought that when laws are violated, it is those who violated the laws that should be arrested by the police and not those who seek to enforce the laws. I do not believe that the action of the police is appropriate and I feel we all must ensure that the rule of law is followed.
I believe that the Revenue Board acted properly by going to court to obtain a court order and to serve it in a way that it will cause no inconveniences to members of the public. I believe the matter is under control. I have spoken to the authorities in Abuja and I believe the matter will be handled amicably. But to make a point that for us in Edo State, we are working hard to send out a clear message that everybody, the governor inclusive, must pay his tax. I hope that every one of us at all levels will play by the rules and Nigeria will be a better place for all of us”.
The alarm
On Wednesday, Elamah, who was freed at about 9pm the previous day, raised the alarm that the FAAN Management had flouted the court order by unilaterally opening their administration office which was shut down. The Revenue Board boss vowed that the state government would collect the money owed by FAAN through legal means, pointing out: “The Edo government is paying on monthly basis tax deductions as a result of withholding tax for which the Federal Inland Revenue Service alleged were not remitted by Edo State and it was done not even in this administration, it was done during the Lucky Igbinedion administration.
And they are deducting at source after the Federal Allocation has been given. On monthly basis, the Federal Government removes over N800million from our allocation as a result of all kinds of deductions. They are making this deduction not even on the strength of a mere court order, but just for the mere fact that the Federal Government is in charge of the allocation; so if we are taking this, while can’t FAAN and other federal agencies here respect themselves”.
Wrong impression
While puncturing the claim by the FAAN Coordinating General Manager, Mr Yakubu Dati, that there was an enabling law which exempts FAAN from paying taxes and tenement rates, Elamah said, “I want to also correct that wrong impression that they were being asked to pay taxes based on tenement rate because I watched on television where, out of ignorance, an official of the Airport Authority, who said he is the Corporate Affairs Manager, quoted an erroneous interpretation of a law that the Federal Airports Authority is exempted from paying taxes.
I want to state here that the charges in question have to do with the Personal Income Tax of the staff and the law that backs it is the Personal Income Tax Act, a Federal Government law. We have had several interactions and engagement with the Federal Airports Authority at the Benin Airport regarding their refusal to remit correctly and properly taxes that are deducted from their staff salaries to Edo State coffers. Now we have over 33 court orders on these federal agencies because they have failed to remit what is due to the state government to us.
They are owing us over N2.5billion and the records are there. If you observe, you cannot enter that airport without paying for tickets at the gate for your vehicles to go in. Secondly, before you travel out, you pay tax at the airport. Is Edo State government not entitled to collect what has been made under the law from any person that resides in the state?”
First call
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the police, Elamah said: “It is shocking because I was not allowed to leave the office of the CP until late yesterday. I was supposed to go and see my boss, I was stopped. Unfortunately, the police left the FAAN Manager who beat up my staff and destroyed our camera and decided to detain someone who went to enforce a court order. That was shocking to me. The first call I got was from the Commissioner of Police to the effect that the officials of the Board of Internal Revenue sealed the airport and I said `no’ and we agreed to meet at the airport and I met him there. We left for his office and, from that point till 9pm, I did not have my freedom to leave even when the governor requested that I should come to his office to meet with him”.
Regret
The frosty relationship between FAAN and the state government, however, thawed on Wednesday evening, when a high powered delegation from the former came to tender apologies to Oshiomhole. FAAN Managing Director, Mr. George Uriesi, who led other management staff, which included Mr. Yakubu Dati, General Manager, Mr. Kolawole Adefomiwa, Deputy General Manager, Mr. Adeboye Festus, the Chief Security Officer and Ayodele, Airport Manager, Benin City, said:
“We deeply regret the events of yesterday and we will like to find out how we can avoid a situation like this arising in the future, because it is neither in the interest of FAAN nor in the interest of Edo State government for the airport to be closed down, because there was a lot of hardship and serious economic consequences as a result of the shutdown and there is need to settle this matter. I want to assure Your Excellency that FAAN is a good corporate citizen, I am convinced that there was a misunderstanding and I want to get to the bottom of this misunderstanding so that it does not happen again.
If we have any obligations, we will meet them, and I hope that in the future if there are issues of misunderstanding, we will be able to talk about them quickly without them leading to delays and inconveniences to the public. So, sir we are here to reassure you of our respects and desire to be good corporate citizens and partner with the state government to deliver services to the people of Edo State”.
Federal law
In his response, The governor noted that tax law was a federal law which the state government was only trying to implement. He noted that the tax which FAAN defaulted on was PAYE which even the President and governors pay. Oshiomhole said the state Board of Internal Revenue got a proper court order to seal the FAAN Manager’s Office, noting that the Manager on his own decided to seal up the airport to gain public sympathy. The governor said the problem with Nigeria is not immunity, but impunity as people often violate the law and get away with it. He insisted that anybody who works and lives in Edo must pay tax as his contribution to the development of the state. Oshiomhole said the way to avoid a re-occurrence of the ugly incident was for FAAN to comply with the law.
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