SHOCKWAVES IN INEC OVER ABIA PDP CANDIDATE; .FORM WITHOUT PARTY SECRETARYS SIGNATURE RAISES EYEBROW. .FEMALE COMMISSIONER FINGERED. Heads may roll at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja over the alleged involvement of a female national commissioner in submission of Form CF 002B that had the signature of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, without that of the national secretary. Form CF 002B is the INEC approved document with which chairmen and secretaries of political parties could submit names of their candidates for the governorship election. Daily Sun learnt yesterday in Abuja that the Form CF002B, as it relates to Abia State had been withdrawn by the PDP national leadership owing to several questions raised about Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, whose candidacy had been dogged by allegations of tax evasion and controversy over his tenure at the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA). Already, investigation is said to have opened into the activities of ASEPA, as regards payment receipts, into and out of the agency’s accounts and others. Also, Ikpeazu’s tax documents have been obtained and are being scrutinised by tax authorities. Daily Sun gathered that INEC authorities were shocked to find another copy of the Form CF002B of Ikpeazu among other forms, when the PDP national leadership had withdrawn the original copy. In the form it was discovered that only the signature of the PDP national chairman was appended while that of the party’s national secretary was not appended. A source at the commission told Daily Sun: “We are wondering how the document found its way to INEC.” Already, a top female commissioner from Abia State has been accused of submitting the controversial Form CF002B of the Abia PDP candidate. According to Daily Sun findings, national leadership of the PDP had suspended the submission of Ikpeazu’s name as its candidate for the governorship election in Abia State, pending when the controversies trailing him were resolved. Though the party did not specifically name any replacement, it was learnt that it rather asked that stakeholders of the party in Abia State should meet alongside all the governorship aspirants and Governor Theodore Orji to seek a credible replacement. The meeting is yet to hold. Commenting on the tax issue, as it relates to Ikpeazu, a PDP governorship aspirant in Abia State, Chief Friday Nwosu said: “Some of us in the race who paid tax for the first time, paid four years in one day. 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 were paid in one day, claiming business as source of income, as if they were businessmen. When voices were raised on this, the same people changed gear and claimed that they were government workers. These people went and brought different set of tax receipts claiming that they now paid under Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) and yet the tax receipts were issued in such a way as if Abia is a state of one man and one taxpayer. “To make matters worse, available records indicated that the 2013 tax was paid before that of 2011, while the date of one of the tax receipts showed it was paid on a Saturday, which was not a working day.” Nwosu said with the situation, there was a clear case of tax evasion. According to him, Abia State may be lost to the opposition if this is allowed. Abia State is a PDP state. There is no doubt about that, but if the person with such records of tax payment is allowed to carry the banner of PDP in the state, the opposition will not even need to campaign for votes but sit down and wait for the election to be over and then go to court and get the governorship seat and PDP would have laboured in vain.” Speaking to our correspondent through a telephone interview on behalf of INEC, Chief Press Secretary to the commission’s chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said the allegation was unfounded, arguing that there was no provision for a substitution of a candidate’s name after submission. “There is no element of truth in what they are alleging. As you are aware, today (yesterday) is the deadline for the submission of names of candidates of various political parties. More so, there is no place in the electoral law where you can substitute a candidate name without the approval of the person involved. If you want to substitute a name after submission, the candidate must write to the commission before his political party can make any changes.” So, I do not see any truth in that allegation.” ‘Abia guber: I didn’t issue statement on PDP’ In reaction to our story, entitled: ‘PDP may lose Abia State, group warns Mu’azu,’ Mr. Sam Onukwue, has denied issuing a statement on Abia governorship election. In a statement, Onukwue said he does not belong to the group and certainly not its president. The statement read: “My attention has been drawn to a publication on page 9 of The Sun issue of December 29, 2014 entitled: “PDP may lose Abia State, group warns Mu’azu.” It was credited to me as “president” of a phoney group, ‘Abia Professionals Forum.’ The Sun claimed that the publication was based on a statement I allegedly released in Abuja. “I have been inundated with phone calls, text messages and personal calls by many well-meaning Nigerians who were surprised and embarrassed by the said odious publication. I wish to unequivocally state that I am not the President of the phoney Abia Professionals Forum and that I neither issued nor authorised to be issued the said statement or press release. I have not written or caused to be written and circulated any such statement or petition as allegedly quoted and published by The Sun or any other newspaper or media house whatsoever. The said publication is no doubt from the stable of desperate politicians who will stop at nothing to create and orchestrate non-existent scenes and situations to scuttle the decision of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to field a worthy Ngwaman as its flag bearer for the gubernatorial election in Abia State in 2015. I call on all concerned to ignore the planted information and those behind it. Editor’s note: The issue here is a coincidence of name. The statement by Abia Professionals Forum was issued by Barrister Sam (Samuel) Onukwue. We apologise to Sam Onukwue, who’s complaining for the embarrassment this must have caused him.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 02:16:39 +0000
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