Sir: For the cheerleaders fasting and praying for God’s blessings upon him, let-me-tell-you-something: Ben Ayade didn’t have to duplicate tax managers in Cross Rivers in the name of checking extortion against vulnerable Cross Rivers petty traders and artisans.
It is hard to imagine that Ayade (PhD) who has made governance an acting series, cannot differentiate tax that is backed by law from extortion that is illegal in all ramifications. It is also inciting that a professor governor doesn’t know he cannot declare tax exemption by fiat without legislative seal.
By Ayade’s latest short drama, not only are those extorting illegal levies from the helpless victims in Cross Rivers not faceless, not a few are known to him, including officeholders he appointed.
Cross Rivers laws, with the state revenue board as enforcing authority, should have enough consequence action against fake tax collectors or touts intimidating the vulnerable victims. If the right sanctions are applied against those caught in the act, the criminality stops.
Gratifying Cross River’s “Men of God” with engagement as “Anti-Tax Agency”, a meaningless conjecture, unknown to tax lexicon, is a misnomer, duplication of duty and expenditure, so wasteful, retrogressive to state building.
It only breeds conflicts of interests, wastage, negligence of duty among other negativities.
I cite an example.
Federal government once felt the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) department of the police, originally charged with general traffic management, has failed in discharging its mandate.
Rather that rejig it with more qualified men and advanced material resources including digitalization of operations with modern gadgets, the federal government, without scrapping the VIO, duplicated the agency with Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), with a cheering crowd condemning the former as a having become a gang of corrupt bribe takers.
Today, working, many times, in conflict of interests with the traffic wardens and the VIOs, the FRSC has also been widely seen as corrupted by bribe taking officers on our highways and major cities. Don’t ask for proof, testimonies abound on naira changing hands on FRSC checkpoints.
The lessons are that the gullible must stop crying along with Ayade whenever he sheds his crocodile tears. Those Ayade calls illegal tax collectors are touts, many political thugs during elections.
What he says they are collecting are not taxes, not even approved levies. They are fabricated levies forced on helpless artisans and petty traders. The victims don’t even need exemption, by Do-good Ayade, from nonexistent taxes.
What is needed to deal with touts robbing from the daily incomes of Cross River’s petty traders and artisans is sheer law enforcement by the police and the courts, not a patronising Anti-Tax Agency of holier-than-thou men of God.
If Ayade wants to gratify the clerics, the familiar directions are sponsorship to pilgrimages, appointment into the pilgrims’ board or maybe soft contracts. Not heeding this passionate advice is mockery of governance taken too far.
Wilson Ruvwoghor, Ughelli, Delta State.