By Cajetan Mmuta, Awka.
Two officials of the Unified Hybrid Enforcement Team of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AIRS), have been sacked.
Chairman of AIRS, Dr Greg Ezeilo disclosed this during a press conference held on Monday in Awka.
The officers were caught in a video that went viral on Saturday, where they assaulted a motorist by forcefully pulling him out of his vehicle and driving it away for not paying his tax in Onitsha.
The development sparked a sack fever among staff and officials of the AIRS, following the constitution of a surveillance team to monitor the conduct and other activities of revenue collectors in the establishment.
The team is made up of twenty-one members with seven officials in each Senatorial District, who operate secretly without uniforms.
Dr Ezeilo said the sack of the two staff was to serve as a deterrent to others and to warn the public about the seriousness and determination of the revenue body.
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He said, “The two staff that molested the motorist have been dismissed from the establishment because of the show of overzealousness and conduct that is against the image and reputation of the Anambra state government”
“We have also had a similar situation, where a shuttle bus driver experienced the same treatment. We had to take necessary actions because the administration of Gov Charles Soludo has zero tolerance for that kind of behaviour.”
Ezeilo stated that the current uniform of the Unified Hybrid Enforcement Team (UBET) would be changed to another colour which, would be costly for fake operators to obtain.
He also noted that the new uniforms would have digitally certified numbers to fight against fake revenue agents.
The management of the AIRS, however, apologized to members of the public for the embarrassment caused to them by the conduct of the sacked officials of the revenue body as they went against the training given to operatives of the enforcement team.
