The Federal Inland Revenue Service has tendered its unreserved apology to the Christian Association of Nigeria over an Easter post described as being disrespectful by the Christian body.
CAN had earlier demanded a public apology from the FIRS for a post on its X handle during the Easter celebration.
In a statement signed by Dare Adekambi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, the agency offered its “unreserved apologies” to CAN and Christian faithfuls, adding that the FIRS had no religion and had no intention to offend adherents of the faith in Nigeria.
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) about a flier posted on our social media platforms with the headline ‘Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes.’ As a responsible agency of government, we would like to say we did not put out the flier purposely to denigrate Jesus Christ or detract from the huge sacrifice He made for humanity. We are acutely aware that the essence of the Easter period is to celebrate this huge sacrifice,” the statement partly read.
“The message was our way of uniquely engaging taxpayers and to remind them of the need to prioritise payment of their taxes as a civic obligation.
“Yes, we would say the message ruffled feathers in some circles. The unintended meaning/insinuation being read into the post was not what we were out to communicate as an agency. Good a thing, this much is acknowledged by CAN in its statement wherein it said ‘We recognise that the intended message may have been to creatively engage taxpayers…’ We wish to offer our unreserved apologies for this misinterpretation.”
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