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- Probe Multichoice over N1.8 trn, $342m tax debt
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has thrown out a bill that sought to make it compulsory for presidential and governorship candidates to secure more than 50 percent of the total votes cast to be declared winners.
The bill seeking to change the current simple majority system of electing the president and governors, suffered a setback on the floor of the green chamber, yesterday.
Sponsored by Awaji–Inombek Abiante, lawmaker from Rivers, the bill sought to make it mandatory for a presidential candidate to be declared winner only if he or she scores more than half of the total votes cast, where there are more than two candidates in the contest.
According to the constitution, to win the presidential election, a candidate needs to obtain 25 percent of the votes in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), along with an overall simple majority.
If a candidate fails to meet both requirements, a run-off occurs between the candidate with the highest vote count and the candidate with the most votes across most states.
Section 134 (1) of the constitution states that a “candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected, where, there being only two candidates for the election:
“(a) he has the majority of votes cast at the election; and
“(b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“(2) A candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election:
“(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and
“(b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
Section 134 also stipulates same for governorship candidates.
But Abiante’s bill proposed that in a presidential race with more than two candidates, a candidate must secure a majority of the total votes — which constitutes over 50 percent.
The bill had not even been debated when lawmakers roundly rejected it.
Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, called for the bill to be seconded after its presentation by Abiante.
However, as soon as the bill was seconded and put to a voice vote, it was rejected — with louder “Nays” than “Yes.”
Meanwhile, the House has also resolved to probe Multichoice, a multinational company operating in Nigeria, over alleged non remittance of N1.8 trillion and $342million to the federal government.
Consequently, the House mandated its Committee on Finance to undertake the investment and report back within four weeks for further legislative actions. The committee is expected to focus on alleged suppression of information discovered from Multichoice submissions in their home country.
The House also cautioned potential buyers of Multichoice Nigeria, Multichoice Africa or any other subsidiaries of the Multichoice Group operating in the country to be aware of “the alleged outstanding indebtedness.”
This followed the adoption of a motion by Saidu Abdullahi, urging the House to investigate the Multichoice Group, over alleged tax debt to the Federal Government.
Abdullahi, in the motion, informed the House that Multichoice has been accused of alleged non-remittance of tax revenues due to the Federation. He stated that this is “ evidenced” by alleged suppression of information discovered from the submissions to their home country.
The lawmaker noted that “the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had engaged a consultant in 2021 under a Whistle blowing contract to carry out an audit of the tax obligations of Multichoice Nigeria and MultiChoice Africa with a view to ascertaining the Company’s tax indebtedness to the Country. Their findings led to a back audit and investigation carried out by the FIRS from 2011 to 2020.
“The systems audit and investigation revealed enormous indebtedness to the tune of over N1.8 trillion in back total taxes for MultiChoice Nigeria, and $342 million in Value-added tax, for MultiChoice Africa that had never paid any taxes since they started business operations in Nigeria. Both amounts were levied upon the Multichoice Group by the FIRS.”
Nevertheless, Abdullahi noted that previous attempts by FIRS to recover the unpaid taxes “through legal means including court proceedings and the subsequent resolution to settle out of the court by both parties has not yielded the desired result. “
He expressed concerns that there are plans to sell Multichoice Nigeria and other Multichoice Group Subsidiaries in the country to a foreign Interest, while the outstanding tax has not been paid. The lawmaker also expressed worry that if urgent steps are not taken to recover the alleged outstanding tax revenues the country may lose a huge revenue.
