Barrister Nnamdi Ahaaiwe, the former board chairman of PPIDF has replied to the press release made available and signed by Abia State Commissioner for Information, Honorable John Okiyi Kalu.

In the Press Release, Honorable John Okiyi Kalu stated that the board of PPIDF was dissolved because they failed to follow instruction of the state government which led to violence that took the life of one Fortunewell Staff few days ago.

But in reply, Barrister Ahaaiwe disagreed with the position of the Commissioner of Information, rather he said they were dissolved because he refused to ignore the siphoning of millions of naira which accrued to Abia State through IGR. Read his full reply.

Once more I am forced by attempts of shameless and gutless officials of the Abia State Government to deceive the public on their show of infamy, to respond briefly instead of waiting for the exhaustive, comprehensive and detailed International Press conference I intend to call in coming days. After this, I will resist the temptation to allow this administration frame the conversation until I have meticulously compiled my facts and figures and ready to let the world peep into a sordid dark world of Abia mis-governance & perfidy. This response is delayed as I had to wait to have some documents scanned to me. The wise always advise that when you are in a hole you stop digging but obviously the Attack Dogs of this administration lack wisdom. 

The narrative painted in the above statement of the Information Commissioner is that we are a DISOBEDIENT BOARD who refused to follow directives of Government on collection of Revenues and that is the reason for the dissolution. These lackeys of the Abia State Government will serve their Principal better by keeping quiet instead of embarrassing themselves. Everyone knows this story is one for the birds. It is not even worth commenting on; the real reason for the dissolution is that I refused to obey instructions to look away and ignore siphoning of millions of Naira in IGR Revenues.

As to appointment of Revenue Agents, the PPIDF Board led by a very Senior Lawyer rather chose to obey valid subsisting orders of an Abia State High Court. The PPIDF, Abia State Government, Mr. Udochukwu Ogbonna (Chairman of BIR), Fortunewell Ltd., Mr. Dannie Ubani, etc by themselves, their Agents, Consultants, proxies, etc were restrained and ordered by an Abia State High Court on the 13th of December 2017 to stop interfering with the collection of Infrastructural Revenues by Kenneth Chikezie and his colleagues who were Claimants in that case. The Court further SPECIFICALLY ordered Fortunewell/Manja not to collect any Infrastructural Revenues until determination of the Substantive Suit. That order still subsists and has not been vacated. A copy of the Court Order which speaks for itself is attached below. The Abia State Government was represented at all times by Lawyers from Ministry of Justice. Udochukwu Ogbonna was represented at all times by the Legal Adviser to the BIR and every other party was equally represented. 

Therefore Mr. Kenneth Chikezie is the Lawful Agent recognized by Law to collect said Revenues for now. It therefore speaks volumes of the character and sordid mentality of top functionaries of the Abia State Government who form the Cabal stealing the State blind, that they chose to back rogues to invade the office of an Agent legally carrying on his business. This ungrateful Administration which is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the goodwill of the Judiciary, has in typical character, consistently undermined same institution including by defying extant Court Orders and supporting rogues to flout and thumb their noses at Court Orders.

Before now, I had used certain tactical actions/persuasions to delay these Agents from starting collection of said revenues based on the Court Order just so as to avoid any chaos because it was clear to me that the Cabal and their protege, Manja will resist the order. I therefore chose to appeal to the CSDC Consultant to factor in these Agents who had valid and subsisting Court orders into whatever arrangements he had been making to enable him work smoothly since he was in any event bound by the Court order. I wrote a comprehensive memo on the issue which was submitted to the Consultant about two or three weeks ago and he promised to come to me to discuss the matter, and I on my part, kept pleading with the Agents to exercise patience for now until the Consultant takes a decision one way or another. 

However, the Revenue Agents got fed up because while they tarried to see if the matter could be settled amicably instead of using the coercive powers of the Court to collect, Manja, with no appointment letter from either the PPIDF, BIR, the Consultant (CSDC) or the Abia State Government started collecting Infrastructural and other levies right from 2nd January 2018 (having collected for all of 2017) WITH NO APPOINTMENT BY ANYONE. For this year 2018, Manja has already collected over N40m in Infrastructural levies and over N100m if other Agency’s levies Are added and yet no one said a word. See attached a letter by which Manja even sub-contracted one of our Revenue windows to Chimonex Investments to collect on his behalf for 2018 which was brought to the attention of the authorities but they all chose to play mute, deaf & dumb. 

It was when the PPIDF Revenue Agent, KENNETH Chikezie, who could no longer wait for the promised intervention of the CSDC Consultant, informed the various transport Unions that he will commence collections of Infrastructural levies on Tuesday in accordance with the Court orders in his favor and the MoU signed with our Agency.

Source: Abia Facts News