HON.JUSTICE O.E.ABANG was born on 10th of January 1961, was called to bar on 3rd November 1988 and became a Federal High court Judge on 22/06/2009, he enjoys reading and doing research…no doubt he is the one we urgently need to rein on the excesses of these corrupt politicians that have soiled our judiciary with bribes
He understands the relationship between time management, an ailing economy and law and he did as was asked of him by the Apex court – he tried the Tax Fraud case expeditiously and by merit as was directed by the supreme court(what baffles me is the way they call him the controversial judge and this is enough prove that the problems with Nigeria are Nigerians, if that’s the way to be controversial, let him be controversial squared, as long as he continues to dispense good justice, who cares?), whereas the five man appellate court judges headed by Justice Ogunwumiju, tried the case cosmetically and superficial
There need to be an urgency of now to overhaul and bring some sense of sanity to our judicial system, it is completely dysfunctional, they need to be educated on the principles of taxation, there must be a probe to find out how some of the judges got to the position they are now, they do not posses some of the characters to be in that position, an article by C Dale McClain, he points out the 10 traits that all judges must have -legal ability, having the knowledge of law, a record and reputation for excellent character and integrity, financial responsibility(promptly and properly filling tax), judicial temperament, devotion to improvement of quality of justice, must be allergic to falsehood, perjury and immorality etc
There is always this pattern they use to try to exonerate corrupt politicians and tax cheats – “YOU DID NOT PROVE BEYOND DOUBT”, the problem with this is that the criminals will always try to destroy the documents because they know that some of those judges that believe that stealing is not corruption will always find a way to set them free…this happened during the Abia state gubernatorial election, the judge ordered INEC to produce some sensitive materials and the following day, the tax cheat and his PDP criminal team burnt down INEC office and destroyed the materials…The evidence is clear, he manufactured figures in his tax documents and lied under oath and you are wondering why they should reserve the judgement( 5 man panel of judges), maybe they tried a way to make the petitioner prove that his spirit was willing to connive with his body to falsify his tax documents or maybe to get a DNA of his spirit? I mean why was the judgement resereved? Then Abang that spent his time to calculate the falsified figures, they accused him of staying in his room to manufacture figures…this SIMPLY BEYOND THE PALE!!!
Put a lipstick on a pig, its still a pig and as long as we still have those custodians of justice that were elevated during the regime of “stealing is not corruption” or that believe that, it might be very difficult to root out the corruption in our judicial system…
For the appellate court to rule that the inadequacy of tax receipts cannot be visited on the petitioner(Ikpeazu), because he was not the one that prepared the said documents is appalling and sickening, this same issue the supreme court ordered to be tried on merit and made sure it was expedited? a slap to the Supreme court judges and for a one man judge to thoroughly and accurately analyze what 5 man panel of judges could not do in 2 weeks time, tells us that something is not adding up, and for them to go on rampage to accuse Justice Abang for doing a good job of meticulously analyzing the tax papers and arriving at a conclusion is unjust and I believe they should apologize to him and other people, they used mundane words to describe the APGA candidate that was just exhibiting his fundamental rights, he is no busy body and not an interloper, I believe these people deserve some respect and apology…judges should be seen as models to the younger generation aspiring to build a career in law ( a classic example of some parents that defend their prodigal son, the tax cheat, irrespective of the crime he commits, almost like a written script to scare away the tax cheats opponents including Ogah maybe from appealing the unjust verdict)
Abians are suffering, people are dying in thousands because they have refused to pay them their salaries, the problem is that this illegal and tax cheat administration’s excuse, that as long as they are been dragged to court that people’s condition in Abia state will worsen is a complete fallacy.There are Cabals in this illegitimate government that control 95% of the state allocation( directly and indirectly using fake and bogus contracts, illegal money transfers, paying ghost staffs etc) and as long as they are in power,it is not a rocket science to know that our condition will continue to get worse and the more we are united to fight them once and for all, the better and thank God He has heard the prayers of Abians, who could ever believe that form CF001 can be our caterpault that Abians will use to destroy the goliath that have held us in bondage for more than 16 years, I’ve always told people that although it might tarry, the Chief architect is in control, in due and appointed time, it will come to light and mind us, success comes at the junction, when we are about to quit…lets not QUIT!!!
One can deduce that after the verdict from the appellate court judges on the tax fraud case, the judges are deficient and as such are not qualified to hold such a position, they displayed utter lack of respect for the rule of law and negligence to the importance of taxation to a countries development, this country is drowning in debt and we virtually have mortgaged the future of our children and most of us don’t even understand the dire consequences of this – we must learn to cut our coat according to our size and no wonder the supreme court ordered for the case to be expedited because they understand the need to balance the justice system with the ailing economy and no more business as usual and i am sure if care was not taken, they could have taken 1 year before coming out with their verdict –
“in the comfort of his chambers”, “miscarriage of justice”, “stood the law on the head”, “somersaulted”, interloper, “spoke from both sides of his mouth when in one breadth…”etc
…i was amazed at how the trial Judge arrived at his conclusion of forgery against the appellant when there was no evidence of forgery. To say the least, his findings are ridiculous,” said Justice Ogunwumiju…hmmm? this same judge that accused Abang of importing words “as at when due? wasn’t he talking about falsification? how did forgery get into this?(NJC, u have a lot of work and cleansing to do…)
…the inadequacies of the tax receipt cannot be visited on Ikpeazu who scored the highest votes in the 2015 governorship elections as doing so will amount to rape of democracy,” the court held…(A higher institution discovers that a student who came first in class entered with falsified documents and it is the schools doctrine to disqualify such a student, the appellate court judge is telling me that because he scored the highest number of illegal votes, that we should ignore the tax issue because he is the No 1 and disqualifying him will downgrade the rating of that institution, democracy my foot…have we descended to such a low in our justice system? unbelievable!!!)
Comparing and contrasting Justice Abangs judgement with that of the 5 man Appellate court Judges led by Ogunwumiju
JUSTICE ABANG(One man Squad) – He took control of his court room
“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.”
APPELLATE JUDGES(5 Man Squad) – They lost control of their court room
Ogunwumiju held that the trial court erred and his decision was pre-judicial.She also held that it was wrong for the plaintiff to have approached the trial court with an originating summons without affidavit evidence.“The appeal has sought the leave of court to decide whether the court was right to have based its decision on suit that was brought by way of originating procedure.As for us here, the suit should have been by way of a writ of summons as it required affidavit evidence to proof a criminal allegation of tax falsification.The trial court was hostile and pre-judicial as the judge shifted the burden of proof from the plaintiffs to the defendant (Ikpeazu),” she said.Ogunwumiju further held that no cause of action was established when the suit was instituted.She said Nwosu, one of the candidates at the December, 2014 primaries of the party had filed his suit before Ikpeazu’s name was submitted to INEC as PDP governorship Candidate.“In fact the allegation should have come before the governorship election being a pre-election matter.Looking at the substance of the case, the appellant was not to blame for any error noticed in the tax certificate submitted to election body.The information has not established any grounds to show that the governor used it to gain advantage on the rest contestants,” she said.Ogunwumiju said: “the worrisome aspect of the trial decision was that the judge imported words into the PDP guidelines to gain appropriate grip on the appellant”.“It is my opinion that Justice Okon Abang sat in his Chamber to speculate what Ikpeazu earned while he served as a Civil Servant in Abia State.The annoying part is that, he went further to bar the Director of Abia State Revenue Authority, James Okogie, from giving evidence, describing the move as an afterthought.This can simply be described as an abortion of justice as the governor was not giving fair hearing to defending himself.In the light of the above, the decision of the trial court dated June 27 is set aside along with the consequential order.By this, we mean Ikpeazu is returned as governor of Abia State,” she held.Also delivering judgment on the governor’s appeal on the jurisdiction of the trial while a notice of appeal was served it, Justice Philomina Ekpe, held that the jurisdiction of the lower court seized immediately the appeal was entered.“Justice Abang failed to act in line with the doctrine of ‘stari decisis’. He was compelled to transfer the record of the case to the Court of Appeal for determination the moment he was notified of the pending appeal,” Philomina said.The judge had on July 8 insisted that he had jurisdiction to hear a motion for stay of execution of his earlier judgments delivered even after the appeals against the judgments had been entered. Ekpe also held that the trial court wrongly interpreted the provisions of Order 4(10) and (11) of the Court of Appeal rules in that circumstance.“The trial judge should have been aware that he lacked jurisdictions to interpret the provisions of the Court of Appeal being the rules of a superior court,” she said.At the Court of Appeal on Thursday, a five-member panel led by Justice Morenike Ogunwumiju said Mr. Abang “raped democracy” when he ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mr. Ogah without evidence of forgery against Mr. Ikpeazu.According to the court, the judgement was erroneously based on the inadequacy of tax receipt which Mr. Ikpeazu cannot be blamed for.“After reading through the judgement several times, I was amazed at how the trial Judge arrived at his conclusion of forgery against the appellant when there was no evidence of forgery. To say the least, his findings are ridiculous,” said Justice Ogunwumiju.The court said Mr. Abang embarked on a “wild goose chase” when he attempted to help the plaintiff.Ms. Ogunwunmiju said the case was not properly filed in the first instanceWhile the law says only an identifiable legal practitioner can attest to a motion instituting a case before the lower court, three lawyers signed for the plaintiff.“But on the motion which led to this appeal three people indicated themselves as lawyers and signed the document. It is not the business of the court to embark on a voyage of helping a litigant decide who filed his case,” the court said.“The judge must have sat in his chamber, unilaterally assessed and computed the tax of the appellant and came to the conclusion that he did not pay the required tax. But let me say that courts are not allowed to speculate as the trial Judge has done in the instant case.“The trial judge spoke from both sides of his mouth when in one breadth, he claimed that he based his findings on supply of false information and in another breadth, he came to the conclusion that the appellant in this matter committed perjury, even when there was no allegation of forgery and no allegation that he did not pay tax,” the court further said.Ms. Ogunwumiju also said that Justice Abang turned the head of the law upside down in his conclusion that it was Mr. Ikpeazu that should bear the burden of proof for an allegation made by Mr. Ogah.“With respect, we disagree with him in this conclusion because it is the person that makes allegation of falsehood that must prove it,” she said.The Appeal Court also argued that Mr. Abang erred when he imported the phrase “as at when due” into the PDP 2014 guidelines.“The judge would not have imported the phrase into his findings if he had seen the copy of the PDP guideline. In this case, he violated the PDP guideline.“From whatever angle one looks at the judgement of the trial Judge, the decision of his court was grossly erroneous. The inadequacies of the tax receipt cannot be visited on Ikpeazu who scored the highest votes in the 2015 governorship elections as doing so will amount to rape of democracy,” the court held.
I will once again remind the custodians of justice, the need to dispense sound and biased justice according to the Holy Scriptures –
Deuteronomy 16:20 19″You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not…blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20″Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you. (New American Standard Bible)
This should not be about the tax cheat, neither about Ogah, Nwosu nor Otti but about Nigeria, about our judicial system that has hit the rock bottom and most importantly, trying to resurrect it so that our children and children’s children will live and abide by the rule of law and not by the rule that the “highest bidder gets justice” we all have a duty to do something, if you have any relation or friend in the law profession and if you believe that our justice system has hit the rock bottom and need to be resurrected please put aside politics of sentiments and ethnicity and SHARE THIS POST, together we can get this job done
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
© BRING BACK OUR VOTES AND JUDICIARY
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