Daily Independent Online.
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
Police have no role in sales tax enforcement
By Maxwell Oditta
Senior
Correspondent,
Lagos
The police have said they would play no
role in the sales tax imbroglio between the Lagos State Government and
manufacturers in the state, describing the reported resolve of the organised
private sector to seek police protection as a ploy to drag the force into the
realm of politics.
The sales tax issue has generated a lot of
controversy recently in the state with the government threatening to close down
the offices of manufacturers who reneged on the payment.
When Daily Independent sought
confirmation from the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police
Command, Emmanuel Ighodalo, a Superintendent of Police, who said he was not
aware of any request for protection by manufacturers from the Lagos State
Government of Bola Tinubu. He referred the reporter to a top official at the
Command Headquarters, Ikeja.
A credible source at the Command
headquarters however swore that the police would not be dragged into the
impasse between manufacturers and the state government. He described the sales
tax controversy as politically motivated, expressing wonder that any group of
persons could desire police protection from a legitimate government. The sales
tax controversy, he said, has an undertone of the federal-state crisis of
devolution of power.
On why policemen were not seen implementing
the injunction of a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice
Roseline Ukeje, which ordered that marketers of petroleum products should revert
to the old prices, in the wake of last month’s fuel crisis, the source
said, “ Where did you see the injunction, on the pages of newspapers? In
the police, we do not act on the basis of what is in the papers. We have our
orders. If the Force headquarters want us to enforce the court’s
injunction, they will present us with a copy of the injunction. And then we
will enforce it. How are we sure that there was ever any such a court
injunction in the first place?”
