THE UNACCEPTABLE INVASION OF JOY FM.*
-A mustardpoint.com news commentary.
On 30th January 2025, truckloads of heavily armed policemen invaded the premises of Joy FM radio station in Otukpo, Benue State. Officials of the Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) who led the armed policemen claimed that the radio station was indebted to the Benue State Government to the tune of one hundred and fifty thousand naira, which warranted the clampdown.
It must be stressed that no sane investor would defend tax evasion. However, there are definitely more civilised methods of causing organisations to pay their taxes than attacking their premises and traumatising innocent workers with heavily armed men who are known to derive pleasure from inflicting pain on others. What are the courts there for?
The invasion of Joy FM in the commando style executed by armed Nigerian policemen is a clear act of lawlessness. It is unacceptable for many reasons.
Since the establishment of Joy FM in 2006, the radio station has acted effectively as a veritable bridge between governments and the populace. The mutually benefiting relationship which has thus existed should have been enough grounds for the Benue State Government to deploy positive corporate communication and act with caution. The Managing Director of Joy FM has emphatically stressed that the radio house was unaware of their tax default, pointing out that if they had been told they would have settled the debt immediately. This calls to question the activities of BIRS tax officers.
What is even more horrible in the exercise is the probable consequences of confronting peaceful and unsuspecting staff, at their duty post, with fierce looking heavily armed men shouting and pushing everybody around. Workers with frail hearts could easily collapse and die out of shere panic. Thank God nothing of such occurred.
Yet, perhaps the most worrisome part of the unacceptable invasion of the radio station was the stoppage of the one o’clock global news which was ongoing. For crying out loud, Joy FM was the first privately owned radio station established in the whole of the North Central geopolitical region of Nigeria and is presently listened to by Nigerians in more than seven states. In the crudest demonstration of arrogance BIRS failed to reason that many corporate organisations place advertisements in-between such prime news times. It would not have made any difference to allow the global news run out in twenty minutes before sealing the premises.
In more civilised climes the representatives of the people at various levels would stand up against this type of impunity displayed by BIRS. It is instructive that the Minority Leader of Nigeria’s Senate, Comrade ABBA Patrick Moro, who also represents the Benue South Senatorial District where Joy FM is domiciled, has condemned the invasion.
