Lagos State Government last night declared former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu as a defaulter in the payment of the land use charge.
It said the ex-governor’s Ikoyi house was sealed off as a result of his indebtedness.
In a statement by Commissioner for Information and Strategy Mr Aderemi Ibirogba, the Lagos government said:
“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.
“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.
“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.
Kalu had in a statement said his criticism of alleged deportation of Igbo by the Lagos State government, led to the sealing off of his house.
The statement by Emeka Obasi, his media adviser, said the sealing off, was “done as a revenge for the criticism by Kalu, who is the Coordinator of Njiko Igbo, a group fighting the cause of the Southeast.”
Obasi said the property had been there for several years and that sealing it after just two weeks of his boss criticsing Fashola over the deportation issue was an indication that there was more to it.
Source: The Nation
