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The Federal Inland Revenue Service has apologised to the Christian Association of Nigerians over alleged offensive Easter message which it sent to Nigerians.
The revenue agency, in a statement signed by Mr. Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser to the FIRS Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, said the intention of the message was never to denigrate Christianity.
In the statement titled “We Will Never Denigrate Jesus Christ,” FIRS said it is aware that the essence of the Easter period is to celebrate this huge sacrifice.
“As a responsible agency of government, we would like to say we did not put out the flier purposively to denigrate Jesus Christ or detract from the huge sacrifice He made for humanity.
“We are acutely 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,” the statement said
The agency added that as a responsible one, it has no religion and will not bring down any religion or offend the sensibilities of adherents of various faiths in the country.
It added, “Our goal is to assess, collect and account for revenue for the wellbeing of the Federation. We believe it is an investment in the progress of the country when citizens pay their taxes. Once again, we wish to apologise to CAN and Christians who felt offended at the unintended consequence of our message on Easter Sunday.”
NPO Reports that CAN had raised concerns against the Easter message on Tuesday describing it as unacceptable.
