An Abuja-based activist, Sesugh Akume, has filed a suit before a Federal High Court in the nation’s capital, asking it to compel states that outlawed the sale of alcohol to refund the sums received through Value Added Tax imposed on alcoholic beverages. About 12 states practise Sharia law in Nigeria. They are Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Zamfara and Niger. Based on Sharia law, some of the states prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages and usually hold public events where bottles of alcoholic drinks are destroyed while gambling is also illegal. However, all the states receive VAT collected from alcoholic beverages sold in other states that permit the sale of the product. In an originating motion brought pursuant to Section 1(3), 4(5), 162(3), (4...
Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Deputy Governor of the state, Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu has engaged in a war of words over a pre-election matter in the court as Shiabu alleged that the former National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole had recently said that the Supreme Court would give his party victory like the case of Imo state. But in a statement yesterday by the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Chris Azebanmwan, the allegation which he described as weighty was false and that Shaibu was engaging in a smear campaign against Oshiomhole. He said, “The statement which he credited to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is a blatant falsehood as no such words emanated from the elder statesman. It is a smear campaign that is aimed at tarnishing the pristine i...