Lagos accuses Orji Kalu of tax dodging

Orji Kalu

Orji Kalu: tax problems with Lagos

The Lagos State government has described the former governor of Abia State , Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu as a land use tax dodger.

According to a statement by the commissioner for information and strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, Kalu’s Ikoyi home was initially sealed off, on account of this. But he now has a grace time of 14 days to pay the tax, following the intervention of Governor Raji Fashola.

Ibirogba said the seal off was unconnected with Kalu’s threat to sue the Lagos State Government over an unrelated matter, the controversial bussing home of 14 destitute from Anambra State.

“We wish to state, for the avoidance of doubt, that nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu’s property in Park View Estate, Ikoyi was distrained pursuant to Section 40 of the Revenue Administration Law of Lagos State for failure to pay the statutory annual land use charge despite three separate notices delivered to the said property.

Orji Kalu: tax problems with Lagos
Orji Kalu: tax problems with Lagos

“As a government driven by law and process, the Lagos State Government will ordinarily expect all law abiding residents to discharge their responsibilities to the state.

“If, in spite of failing to do so, Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu wants to give ethnic colouration to a routine performance of its duties by an agency of the state government, which in this case is the Land Use Charge Office, under the Ministry of Finance, he is welcome to do so.

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“However it should be noted that when the issue was brought to the attention of the Governor, Tuesday evening, he directed the agency to unseal the property and that an additional 14 days grace period be given to Mr. Kalu to pay the said charge.

“It should be emphasised that notices like these are served on defaulting property owners on a regular basis who either comply or contact the Agency to raise any objections they might have to such notice. Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu, like every other citizen, must fulfil his obligation to the State, said Ibirogba.

Emenike Ojukwu, Mr. Kalu’s aide had claimed that the sealing of the property was connected to an article written by his boss in the wake of the “deportation” of some Igbo indigenes to Onitsha by the Lagos State government.

“There’s no other reason than because Mr. Kalu told Fashola not to deport people from Lagos State. He’s not the owner of Lagos State. Lagos does not belong to him,” Mr. Ojukwu had said.

In the article titled: “Deportation: Fashola got it wrong” published in Mr. Kalu’s The Sun newspapers, the former governor described the “deportation” as “dehumanising and demeaning and an affront on the sensibility of all Igbos,” promising also to take the Lagos State government to court if it does not “show remorse, confess and own up to their sin and ask God for forgiveness.”

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