Strong indications have emerged that the recent protest by the ‘members’of Ikeja branch of Nigerian Bar Association against the amended Land Use Charge law was politically motivated.
Investigations showed that the said protest may have been sponsored and bankrolled by the national legal adviser of APC, Dr Muiz Banire who reportedly spent millions to print t-shirts,posters,fliers e.t.c and oil the pockets of the executives of the NBA,Ikeja Branch
Further findings have revealed that the association was allegedly hijacked by supporters of the National Legal Adviser who has been in a running battle with his mentor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the APC in Lagos state.
Those in the know say many known supporters of the embittered legal Adviser were spotted in the recent march actively participating under the disguise of protesting against the Land Use Charge.
In another development, the lawyer protesters who have been severally linked as sympathizers of a former governor in Lagos State boasted that their agenda was to dent Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode’s image and popularity under the smokescreen of populist fight against the amended law of land use charge by making Lagos ungovernable for Ambode.
It would be recalled that in a rather display of comedy of errors, s group of lawyers, from Ikeja Branch, out of the five NBA branches in Lagos State marched from Ikeja Roundabout to the Lagos State House of Assembly to protest the review of the state’s Land Use Charge (LUC) on Tuesday March 13, 2018. While it is their democratic right to express their concerns or grievances on any policy, it is shameful when such agitation is jaundiced by political machinations and mischief.
Interestingly and in a curious twist of events, these ‘champions’ have been shown to be tax evaders, or at best have been grossly under-paying for their properties. This has been revealed in an exclusive document obtained from the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS).
For instance, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Barrister
Adesina Ademola who led the protest pays a paltry pay-as-you-earn tax of N5,000 per annum which amounts to N416.00 per month.
However,some lawyers in Lagos State are gearing up to demand accountability from the leadership of the NBA, Ikeja branch as to how the practicing fees have been expended over the years by the Adesina led executive that has remained lame and dumb over the myriads of issues bewildering the legal profession and the nation at large.