Fashola accuses Agbaje of owing N1.6M tax

The Lagos State governor, Mr
Babatunde Fashola, SAN,
yesterday, made the disclosure
at the 8th Annual Lagos State
taxation Stakeholders’ conference held in Ikeja, accused Jaykay Pharmacy, owned and managed by the governorship candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
Mr. Jimi Agbaje of owing the
state N1.6 million as unpaid land use charges.

But in a swift reaction, Mr Agbaje faulted the claims made by the governor that his company defaulted in the payment of the land use charge.

Fashola, who explained that Land Use Charge, LUC, was a consolidated tax combining ground rent and tenement rate, said:

“Tax is prescribed by the 1999 constitution. It states that it shall be the duty of every citizen to declare its income to the appropriate and lawful agency; and pay the required tax promptly.”

Accusing Agbaje’s pharmacy of
defaulting in the payment of
land use charge to the coffers of
the state, the governor said,
“you will remember that in 2007,
he (Jimi Agbaje) claimed that he
was in Democratic People’s
Alliance, DPA and later crossed
to PDP.

You know that he (Agbaje) manages a pharmacy called Jaykay Pharmacy, located at 9, Randle Close, Apapa Local Government. His pharmacy has not paid Land Use Charge for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively; it amounts to N1,
629, 064.62.”

Reacting to the allegation, Agbaje said the governor lied, saying “I have even been commended for paying my Land Use Charge on time.”