ABIA:Court clears Ikpeazu of tax evasion allegation

A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri yesterday ruled that Dr Uche
Ogah, who was recently presented with a Certificate of Return by
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the
governor of Abia State, is not eligible to govern the state.
According to the court “Ogah is not eligible to enjoy the outcome
of the PDP primary because he rejected the result of the
primary”.
The court also dismissed a suit filed by Chief Friday Nwosu,
seeking to remove the Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu for
allegedly presenting a forged tax certificate to his party, the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Nwosu, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the PDP
during December 8, 2014 primary had approached the court pray­
ing that he be declared Abia governor on the grounds that
Ikpeazu was not qualified to represent the PDP during 2015
election.
Delivering judgment on the suit, the presiding Judge, Lewis
Allagoa, stated that the plaintiff through his counsel failed to
justify his claim that the tax certificate submitted by Ikpeazu was
forged.
Allagoa explained that “aside looking at documents in litigation,
proving a forged matter requires adequate clarification and ad­
ditional proof by experts before a forgery claim can be
established by law.”
On the claim that Ikpeazu was not properly taxed in the year
2011, the court noted that it was not the position of Ikpeazu, but
that of the tax official to determine how he could be taxed.
The court maintained that since the issuing Authority (Abia State
Board of Internal Revenue) was not joined in the suit nor an ex­
pert engaged to ascertain the authenticity of the document, it
would be unlawful for the court to rule in favour of the Plaintiff.
On the third relief sought by the plaintiff, seeking to dismiss the
claim to the governorship position by Dr Uche Ogah, the court
ruled in favour of the plaintiff, noting ``Ogah is not eligible to enjoy
the outcome of the PDP primary because he rejected the result of
the primary”.
Allagoa had earlier favoured Nwosu on two other grounds; that
the originating summons filed was properly filed and that the
Federal High Court has jurisdiction to hear the pre-election suit.
Reacting to the judgment, Dr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), J.T.U. Nnodum
and Theo Nkire who represented INEC, PDP and Ikpeazu
respectively described the judgment as a landmark.