take dat: Mr Too Know, you concluded that the Governor is "ignorant/dumb" without hearing his own side?

CFCfan:
His denial is even laughable.

atlwireles:

The gov's side is already available on channels. "ignorant/dumb" is a bit too light in my opinion to describe the events in Benin. Yes they sealed the airport, they should stop misleading. Good news is, the passengers are been moved to Warri for their flights.

take dat: Guess you are a FAAN official. Abeg pay your tax.

CFCfan:

Federal airports are by law, exempted from paying tenancy and other State taxes.

atlwireles: So you think shutting down the airport will affect anybody, other than Edo citizens and businesses This man call Osho is not as smart as I thought.

take dat: The revenue board obtained a "Distraining Order(to compel payment or reparation)" on the administrative office of FAAN from a competent court of law. FAAN is exempted from paying tenancy and other state taxes, but FAAN officials are not. It is the responsibility of FAAN to deduct PAYE from the salaries of the employees of FAAN and pay to the state government, but FAAN has not been doing so. The Governor admitted that the state government does not have the powers to shut down a federal airport, and that it was the Manager's office that was sealed up. According to the Governor, it was the manager who decided to dramatize the issue by sealing up all other offices to attract National attention.

CFCfan:
The airport Manager should then be made to face the music. Its utterly shameful that a so-called federal official could be so dumb/ignorant and primitive. Tufiakwa!

take dat: Now we are on the same page. I am in no way trying to exonerate the state government, I am aware of the unruly behavior of most tax officials. I am only against taking sides and apportioning blames when a proper investigation has not been carried out.

take dat: Edo did not shut down Benin Airport –
Oshiomhole


The governor accused the Nigerian Police of partisanship.

The Benin Airport that was shut down on Tuesday was not shut by the Edo State Government, the governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said.
The airport was shut on Tuesday as the Edo State Government and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) engaged in a tussle over tax debts.

At the centre of the tussle are debts allegedly owed the state government by FAAN and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), totalling N39.7 million. FAAN was accused of owing N15 million while NAMA was alleged to owe N24.7 million.

Mr. Oshiomhole, while narrating Edo State’s role in the airport controversy, denied that the state government shut down the airport; saying the state lacks such power under Nigerian law.
He said the state government served an administrative order on FAAN after duly obtaining same from a court, informing the airport manager of the tax debts. Instead of dialoguing with the tax officials, the manager allegedly took the law into his hands, descending on the officials of Edo State Board of Internal Revenue, who served the notice on him; and thereafter, shut down the airport so as to turn the heat against the state government.

“When the airport manager was served the notice, he in turn, shut down the lounge and other offices. He shut it down so that nobody will go in or come out of the airport,” Mr. Oshiomhole said in an impromptu address at the Government House, Benin.

“Just to put it on record, the Edo State government did not shut down the airport. It was done by the manager who wanted to use it as a shield against the tax of his workers that he has not paid. The logic of the rule of law is that everybody is under the law. Nobody is above the law.

“The airport manager assaulted the revenue board officials. He also assaulted a cameraman. I am obliged to pay my tax and I am liable if I don’t pay. The fact of being a governor does not preclude me from paying my tax,” the governor said.

Mr. Oshiomhole also accused the Nigeria Police Force of unfair treatment in the crisis.
He said the Inspector-General of Police ordered the State Commissioner of Police to arrest the Chairman .of Edo State Board of Internal Revenue, Oseni Elamah, over the disagreement. He wondered why the police would choose to arrest a law abiding citizen in place of another who commits a criminal offence of not paying his tax and not remitting the duly paid taxes of others.

Several flights that were scheduled to take off from the airport could not as passengers remained stranded outside.

The Airport Manager, Sunday Ayodele, could not be reached on the airport’s next line of action as he did not respond to calls on his phone.
Tuesday’s incident occurred about two months after a private helicopter flying Mr. Oshiomhole to Anambra was recalled midair by the authorities of FAAN, who alleged that the governor’s pilot did not file the necessary flight details before taking-off from the Benin Airport. Mr. Oshiomhole later abandoned the trip after the helicopter was delayed at the airport.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/141938-edo-did-not-shut-down-benin-airport-oshiomhole.html

take dat: Guess you are a FAAN official. Don't be a tax cheat, pay your tax.

atlwireles:

How did you know we are talking about PAYEE tax where did Payee come into the story here?? If you have ever worked for the Federal gov, then you know, there is no way you can escape payee . Payee works like clock work in all agencies. What Edo state is talking about is not payee. The airport manger did not shut the airport down. Edo state closed the gate and sealed it with poster clearly posted on the gate.

take dat: Read the state government's version of what transpired.

take dat: Read the state government's version of what transpired.

“We believe it was possible to get the FAAN to
pay their obligation without causing untold
hardship to air travelers. So the closure of the
airport has been unilaterally done by the Airport
Manager who wanted to use it to shield himself
from the charges against him, namely,
deducting PAYE from employees of FAAN and
not paying to the Edo state government in
accordance with the law."

take dat: The revenue board obtained a "Distraining Order(to compel payment or reparation)" on the administrative office of FAAN from a competent court of law. FAAN is exempted from paying tenancy and other state taxes, but FAAN officials are not. It is the responsibility of FAAN to deduct PAYE from the salaries of the employees of FAAN and pay to the state government in accordance with the law, but FAAN has not been doing so. No one is above the law, be it a federal institution/agency. The Governor admitted that the state government does not have the powers to shut down a federal airport, and that it was the Manager's office that was sealed up. According to the Governor, it was the manager who decided to dramatize the issue by sealing up all other offices to attract National attention.

taharqa2:
Let me get something straight:

Is it even remotely possible to shut down the activities of FAAN and NEMA, two organizations directly responsible for the safety of every single plane flying an Airport, without essentially having that Airport Shut??

@CFCFan and @take dat, may help me out

eghuan1: truth of the matter is that it was FAAN chairman who locked the airport gates. the Edo state board of internal revenue locked down FAAN office which is not in the airport premiss. I watched it this evening and the B.I.R chairman even ordered that the chain on the airport gates be broken to allow perssenger through in the pressence of the commissioner of Police who acting from orders from above arrested the B.I.R chairman. when the CP was asked to release the chairman by oshiomole, he said the order was from IG. the whole issue tire me

careytommy: Why i'm i not surprised, shebi na Edo govt?
illegality is the norm in revenue generation over there.
www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/robbers-or-local-govt-officials-at-benin-by-pass/

homesteady:

You sound so foolish!! Did you even understand what was written there?

lagerwhenindoubt: Obviously some FG agencies are tax-exempt IRS should have tried to investigate what basis they had to levy a government establishment the way they did. but you know when a snake is hungry, anything be food, even its own tail

KenGali:

And the Manger's Office is not part of the Federal Airport. Talk of reasoning upside down.
Since when can anybody walk into a Federal Airport to shut it down, Is that not a National Security Issue?
Will the airport function without the FAAN Manager.

CFCfan:
Its not possible to do so; I think u meant to write "NAMA" there.