N90BN FOR OSINBAJO: Frank insists on claim, challenges FIRS to sue him

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, on Tuesday, told the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to preceded on legal action to sue him as he insisted that the service sponsored the APC presidential campaign.

He also carpeted the FIRS over its response to debunk his earlier claim.

Frank has insisted that the the FIRS gave Vice President Yemi Osinbajo N90 billion for election campaign.

He said he was disappointed at the FIRS “intellectual laziness” and asked its leaders “to bury their faces in their hands in shame over their gross act of corruption.”

Frank, had earlier on Monday alleged that Osinbajo’s current travails was as a result of his alleged mismanagement of the alleged N90 billion FIRS gave him for the 2019 election campaigns.

FIRS had denied the claim and said that Frank was seeking cheap popularity and vowed to file a libel suit against him should he refuse to tender an apology in three major newspapers within the next 24 hours.

Frank in a statement in Abuja in response to the statement of the riposte to his press release by the tax agency, boasted that he cannot be intimidated by the agency’s threat to sue him.

He also lashed at the agency, saying it was trying to hide the truth from the public.

Frank said: “I read the statement by the Federal Inland Revenue Service and I am rather disappointed at their intellectual laziness.

“Who is the FIRS trying to fool by claiming that their annual subvention is not up to a N100 billion? That is an unintelligent attempt to fool the public.

“The FIRS, like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission are revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government that do not depend on budgetary subventions.

Read also: FIRS debunks Timi Frank’s claims, says he’s seeking cheap publicity

“These agencies are able to appropriate huge funds from the monies they generate for their use.”

He challenged the agency to clear the air on the reason for the discrepancies which exist in their records of tax collection.

“For example, on January 7, 2019, the Federal Inland Revenue Service announced that it had broken Nigeria’s all-time revenue generation record, by generating N5.3trillion in 2018.

“However, on 18th August, 2019, the FIRS’ boss was queried for poor performance and under remittances to the Federation Account by the Chief of Staff to General Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Abba Kyari.

“Kyari’s letter to the FIRS’s Boss, Tunde Fowler, was to the intent that the reported ‘record breaking’ revenue the agency claimed to have generated was in reality not up to the revenues generated in the previous Peoples Democratic Party-led administration of President Goodluck Jonathan”, he claimed.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now