FIRS tenure: Fowler dragged to court over tenure elongation
- These are not the best of times for chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler
- A court wants Fowlercto show cause why he should not be sacked for overstaying his tenure
- The Attorney General of the Federation was joined as the second defendant in the case
A Federal High Court sitting in Kano state has ordered the chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, to appear before it on Monday, October 7.
The court wants Fowler, a former chairman of the Lagos Internal Revenue Service, to show cause why he should not be sacked for overstaying his tenure which expired on Sunday, August 18.
The judge of the High Court, Justice Lewis Allagoa, after hearing a plaintiff’s counsel on Monday September 23, also ordered that the defendant should be served in Abuja and filed their defence within five days.
In court documents obtained by PRNigeria, the FIRS boss was dragged to court over his continued stay in office after the expiration of tenure.
The plaintiff, Mr. Stanley Okwara, in a suit filed on Wednesday, September 18, and obtained on Saturday, September 28, also joined the Attorney General of the Federation as the second defendant.
In the originating summon, the two defendants were given 30 days to explain why Fowler, who was appointed on August 20, 2015, has not ceased to hold office as the chairman of FIRS after August 20, 2019 in accordance with the “decision of the Supreme Court…and having regard to the combined provisions of Section 3(2) (a), Section 4(a) and Section 11 (a) of the Act establishing the agency.”
Recall that Legit.ng recently reported that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration slammed Fowler with a query just as his tenure came to an end.
The query had to do with revenue collection during his period as FIRS boss there are fears he may not get a second term.
After its demands on Fowler went viral, the presidency, on Monday, August 19, explained that the government was not investigating Fowler.
It, however, explained that the letter to Fowler from Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, merely raised concerns over the negative run of the tax revenue collection in recent times.
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Source: Legit.ng
