In a contest of facts and propaganda arising from heated political-legal tussle such as we have in Abia State today, there is a limit to how far misinformation can go. When hard facts come up, the concerned public and stakeholders in the Abia case can see the imperative of having justice prevail.

On 27th June, 2016, Hon. Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja delivered his judgment in the case involving Dr. Uche Ogah vs. Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu & 3 others, in which the Court found out several false information on the tax papers filed in by Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and ordered him to vacate his seat in accordance with the law and precedents.

The same Court ordered Dr. Uche Ogah who is the qualified candidate of PDP to be sworn in as the Governor of Abia State. Since then, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has refused to vacate his seat, using all manners of tactics, arm-twisting measures and misinformation. Some of Dr. Ikpeazu’s supporters even argued wrongly, quoting Section 141 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, that since Dr. Ogah did not participate in the actual 2015 gubernatorial election, he cannot benefit from it.

The truth is that the above Electoral Act provision has been properly interpreted in a legal precedent by the Supreme Court, sitting as a full Court of seven justices. In the case in reference, the Supreme Court held that the words “Tribunal or Court” referred to in Section 141 of the Electoral Act does not include Supreme Court and Federal High Court hearing and determining pre-election matters. That in appropriate cases, the Court can order a successful litigant to be sworn in immediately without the rigours of having to go through another election.
Interestingly, the Ogah vs Ikpeazu case is a pre-election matter and it is adjudicated on by a Federal High Court, which is not constrained as duly interpreted by the Supreme Court above. Anyway, let us now move on to the real issue of discussion here. That is, the crux of the Ogah vs Ikpeazu legal tussle is all about declaration of false information and not forgery.

In his findings, Justice Abang discovered that, indeed, Dr. Ikpeazu was not qualified based on 2014 Peoples Democratic Party Electoral Guidelines to contest the said primary because the INEC Form CF001 and documents Ikpeazu deposed to and submitted to Independent National Electoral Commission contain false information contrary to Section 31(5 & 6) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

So, it needs repeating that the Abia State Governorship case has nothing to do with forgery of the documents as alleged by the Ikpeazu legal team. It is not whether the tax receipts were forged by Dr. Ikpeazu. The issue here all along has been simple and straight forward: whether there is any false information contained in the documents submitted to Independent National Electoral Commission by Dr. Ikpeazu. It was confirmed that the information contained in tendered documents are actually false as can be seen in Dr. Ikpeazu’s tax receipts.

When he was appointed as General Manager of Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest Scheme effectively from 18th July, 2011, his salary, allowances/entitlements were clearly spelt out. Going by the exhibits, Dr. Ikpeazu worked for Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest Scheme for 5 months, 12 days in 2011. Now, his earnings based on the letter of appointment in 2011 for 5 months and 12 days by simple calculation would be N493, 128.00 if he was assigned Government vehicle or N546, 609.00 without any Government vehicle. The tax receipt or tax clearance did not reflect these figures. Exhibits further show that the tax receipt for 2011 indicates that the gross emolument of Dr. Ikpeazu for 2011 was N1, 135, 476.00 and his income tax was assessed on this figure for 2011. However, his gross emolument for 2011 did not correspond with the period he worked for Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest Scheme in 2011.

In 2011, Dr. Ikpeazu actually received 12 months salary whereas he worked for only 5 months and 12 days. Put differently, Dr. Ikpeazu gave false information in his documents that his gross emolument for 2011 was N1, 135, 476.00. The correct gross emolument ought to be N493, 128.00 or N546, 619 (if not assigned any government vehicle). It is not possible that Ikpeazu earned that amount having worked for 5 months and 12 days in 2011 taking into consideration what he was supposed to earn as salary, allowances and entitlements as per appointment letter.
Also, there is a difference between the date of issuing of a tax receipt and its duration of coverage. In Ikpeazu’s case, the date he was issued the tax receipt with Serial No. 0012849 was on 31st December, 2011, which was a Saturday. Saturday is not a working day even in Abia State. Ministers, Public bodies such as Abia State Board of Internal Revenue do not work on a Saturday. This is another false information given in the documents submitted by Dr. Ikpeazu.
Going further, the Serial No. 0012849 of his 2011 tax receipt came first for a tax receipt purportedly issued on a Saturday on 31st December, 2011 before the tax receipt No. 0012846 of 2012, 31st December was issued. The tax receipt for year 2013 with Serial No. 0012847 was earlier in time before Ikpeazu obtained tax receipt for 2011. This is false information. Using the same booklet to issue tax receipt for 2011 ought to have been first in time before the serial number of the tax receipt of Ikpeazu for 2012 and 2013. However in this case, it is the serial number of his tax receipt for 2012 and 2013 that came first.

Although Ikpeazu claimed that the information was issued in error, the fact of his explanation here is an admission against interest that indeed the earlier 2011 tax receipt contains false information. But if indeed the information was issued in error and known to Ikpeazu, he ought to have explained this to Independent National Electoral Commission when Form CF001 with attached documents were returned to INEC on 26th December, 2014. He waited till when the issue was raised by Dr. Ogah. Therefore, Ikpeazu’s defence on this issue was an after-thought.

Yet another misinformation given by Ikpeazu is the claim of payment of income tax for 2011, 2012 and 2013. For instance, his tax clearance certificate of 2013 in a column indicated that he paid personal income tax of N75,017.76 while his tax receipt for 2013 with serial no. 0012847 dated 31st December, 2013 indicated that he paid N38,775.00. The amount in the 2013 tax receipt for 2013 should be the same amount in the column for 2013 tax in the tax clearance certificate. This is false information that Ikpeazu submitted to INEC in his tax clearance certificate.

If indeed it is true that the entry of personal income tax of Ikpeazu in the tax clearance certificate for 2013 represents payment of taxes when he served in two agencies in 2013, he ought to have made this explanation to Independent National Electoral Commission when he filled and submitted Form CF001. This is so because Ikpeazu on 22nd December, 2014 declared on Oath in Form CF001 that all answers and particulars he had given in Form CF001 were true and correct, which is false.

Yet another false information given by Ikpeazu to Independent National Electoral Commission can be seen in his 2011 tax receipt. His tax payment for 2011 was made for the period 1st January, 2011 to 31st December, 2011. Ikpeazu claimed that he started paying income tax to Abia State Passengers Integrated and Safety Scheme before his employment on 19th July, 2011 that took effect from 18th July, 2011. This is false. A person cannot pay tax for a period he did not work.
But that is not all. The list of false information given by Ikpeazu to Independent National Electoral Commission continues. In 2011, Ikpeazu’s gross emolument was N1, 135, 476.00. That is, he only worked for his employer for 5 months 12 days in 2011 and he paid N166, 145.20 as tax. Yet he earned the same amount in 2012 when he worked for the whole year of 12 months, and paid a lesser tax amount of N66, 000.00. This is a false information to the extent that Ikpeazu could not have paid a higher amount.

So, from all the foregoing hard facts presented, there is no doubt that Ikpeazu was not qualified to contest the People’s Democratic Party’s primary for the office of the Governor of Abia State of Nigeria in line with Article and 14 (a) of People’s Democratic Party’s Electoral Guidelines 2014. And Justice Abang was right in his judgment disqualifying Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as the candidate of People’s Democratic Part for 2015 general election and declaring Dr. Uche Ogah as the de facto Governor of Abia State.

• Okafor, a lawyer, writes from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

Culled from Guardian.Ng