Ikpeazu’s tax certificate wasn’t forged-  ASIRS

Following last Monday’s judgment by Justice Okon Abang of the Abuja High Court, sacking Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, over alleged false disclosures in his tax certificate presented before he ran for the April 11, 2015 gubernatorial election, the state’s Internal Revenue Service, has insisted that the tax certificate it issued Ikpeazu was not fake. Ikpeazu Ikpeazu Recall that in his judgment, Justice Abang had sacked Ikpeazu as governor, ruling that the Independent Electoral Commission. INEC, immediately issues Certificate of Return to Dr. Uche Ogah, who came second in the December 8, 2014 primary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Justice Abang had also ruled that the Chief Judge of Abia State, Justice Theresa Uzokwe, do immediately administer the oath of office and swear-in Ogah. But the Abia State Internal Revenue Service, ASIRS, in a statement on Monday, by its Executive Chairman, Udochukwu Ogbonna, clarified and insisted that the tax certificate issued to Ikpeazu was not fake, adding that neither the court nor the plaintiff Dr. Ogah invited (subpoenaed) the Revenue Board as witness to state the authenticity or otherwise of the tax papers in issue, during the pendency of the subject suit. The statement read: “The attention of the Abia State Internal Revenue Service has been drawn to a court judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja on the tax clearance certificate issued to Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu by the Service, and hereby makes the following clarifications: 1. That the tax clearance certificate referred to in that Judgment was duly issued to Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu by the Service, and was therefore not fake. 2. That the taxes for the years 2011,2012 and 2013 were PAYE taxes deducted at source from his personal emoluments by his employers (Abia State Passengers’ Integrated Manifest Scheme and Abia State Environmental Sanitation Authority respectively) and remitted to the service in the relevant tax years 3. That the dates on the tax receipts of the relevant years (2011, 2012 and 2013) did not suggest that they were paid on those dates, but only reflected the date