Mr. Peter Obi who was the former GovernorGovernor of Anambra state ,he served as the Chairman of South East Governors forum for 8 Years and brought peace,brotherhood ,understanding ,oneness to South East Governance .
He brought back life,security ,love and education to Anambra state , yesterday appeared before the Onitsha Office of Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (Tax office) .
Acting on the summon sent to him ,which the Former Governor may have been sweating from the current Political summons sent to Saraki,Enweremmadu , but before they woke up to answer the summons ,there was an invasion , that must have spooked the former Governor to abandon his speaking engagement in Lagos and rush down to answer the summon to avoid invasion .
Obi was summoned by Mrs Nwakpudolu Juliet, the Chief Tax Officer coordinating GRA Phase 2 Onitsha as a Senior Business Manager.
This is the first and only time a former Governor will be summoned in such a manner .
Our Roving reporter who sighted the Governor coming out from his vehicle in heavy down pour .
when Obi entered with his Media Adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem.
When the reporter ask Mr Val tge reason why Okwute is notnot paying his taxes in Anambra the capital of South East ,he stopped ,scratched his head and replied "Why Obi Pays Tax in Enugu State
Fmr. Gov. Peter Obi was paying his personal income tax in Anambra state for over 30 years until 2015, when he requested tax clearance from the Anambra Tax office. After over 3 months delay, they wrote him back and regretted the inability to issue him with one. The letter was personally signed by the then Executive Chairman of the Anambra State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Achike Emejulu-Joe."
Confirming the visit at the tax office amidst heavy down pour at 10 am, Obi said he was summoned to appear before the tax office at 10: 00 am hence he had to ran from Lagos to Onitsha to meet up the appointment.
When probed on his feelings on the invitation, Obi said “Nothing to worry. As a citizen, I can visit any office in the country, including those in my state when I have issues to sort out."
He even commended the conduct of the chief Tax officer who he said was polite and did her duties professionally.
Further, Obi said he was asked to show his six years tax clearance which this newspaper sighted the receipts totaling N205 Million.
‘’I am happy the professional way Juliet conducted herself. It was a first class conduct and this is the kind of person that every International organization should hire. I am sure she was not anticipating that I will answer her summon. But as a good citizen who knows the importance of taxation for government to operate, I honoured her summon.
‘’I wish other people could be like her in attending to clients and tax payers the professional way she attended to me."
On the issue of tax evasion, former Anambra Governor, Obi appealed to citizens to pay their taxes regularly, lamenting that those evading tax are shortchanging the people and government because government can only do great work for the masses when citizens pay taxes.
He however appealed to government to ensure smaller businesses are not crippled by tax as over burdening of smaller businesses kills them. He said wealthy people should be encouraged to pay taxes adequately.
Mrs Nwakpudolu who confirmed the invitation, said her office requested evidence of payment of taxes in the last six years from the former Governor.
She said the government of Chief Willie Obiano was doing a great developmental work hence the taxes were needed to support him, thus informing the invitation to prominent citizens like Obi.
Mr. Obi came with evidence of payment for the last 20 years and left the assessor regretting that she would have easily met her N80 Million target for the year if Obi had paid such huge amounts he paid yearly to her office rather than Enugu state.
Caption for pics
Pic 1
Mrs. Nwakpudolu Juliet (left), the Co-ordinating Senior Business Manager, Onitsha tax office of Anambra state, who summoned fmr. Gov. Peter Obi to her office office located at No 7 Park Road, GRA Osha to answer query on tax issues
Pic 2
Fmr Gov. Peter Obi leaving Onitsha tax office of Anambra state amidst heavy downpour , after being summoned by Mrs. Nwakpudolu Juliet to her office office located at No 7 Park Road, GRA Osha to answer query on tax issues
No comments:
Post a Comment