LAGOS — The Democratic Peoples’ Alliance, DPA, has alerted the Lagos State House of Assembly and Governor Babatunde Fashola to the operations of a self-styled “Task Force on Tax Payments” invading streets and houses and harassing citizens.

Clad in yellow polyester “monkey jackets,” the personnel move in a convoy of official buses. They were sighted at Isolo, Alimosho and Igando-Ikotun and Ejigbo councils, where their presence forced alarmed businesses to close shop for much of last week.

DPA in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, criticised the approach, saying: “This is a draconian and dehumanizing measure. It denotes a negative throwback to the infamous tax collectors of the colonial and area council eras, when government officials exerted cow tax and poll tax from people by chasing them through the streets; they hurled people to jail for non-compliance. Citizens fought back with innumerable riots.”

The statement said: “Lagosians already suffer from the activities of KAI, LASTMA, local government, environmental task force and the Ministry of Environment enforcing Thursday sanitation exercises. The state government should be compelled to rein in the brand new threat to Lagos sanity and dignity. Lagos has become so over-policed that it will be indecorous to add the terrorism of the tax collector.”

The officials invaded the councils with a long line of official buses, and shut down shop owners who were unable to present the required tax receipts. They spared no one.

According to the party, Lagosians would imbibe tax compliance when they enjoy good social services and amenities.

Asking the Executive and Legislature to investigate and ensure that the situation did not amount to multiple taxation, DPA recalled that several businesses already paid up to N10,000 for lockup shops and business permits to the local governments, apart from obtaining signage permits from the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency, LASAA.