Iyabo Ojo, a well-known actress in Nollywood, has been given seven days by the Lagos State Government to pay N18,640,092.00 in personal income tax or face jail time.
In a letter to the actress, the Lagos government claimed that she owed N7,376,000.00 in taxes for the year 2022 and N11,264,092 in back taxes for the tax year 2021.
Iyabo Ojo responded to the letter on Monday, criticizing the approach taken to arrive at what she called an outrageous tax bill she got.
“@jidesanwoolu @lagosstategovt, please, how do you people come up with these outrageous personal income taxes you send on a daily basis?,” she wrote alongside a photo of the bill when she posted it to her Instagram account.
“You still come up with all this large sum and give me 7 days to pay up, lol. After paying for various forms of taxes for one’s enterprises, house, and everything else.
“The last time you requested me to visit your office, I did. When I arrived, you asked me to explain and disclose my income, which I did with the help of my tax advisor, but you didn’t reply to my letter because you wanted me to give you an absurd sum of money that I didn’t have. Does this make me look like a criminal, ni? ‘How do you people come up with such absurd bills,’ I inquire once more.
What have you as a government ever done for me? NOTHING. We shall all pass away one day, so as long as you guys insist, feel free to come shut down my business, arrest me, put me in jail, or even kill me.