The Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue has urged the Rivers State High Court sitting in Omoku to jail the acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Prof. Nelson Brambaifa, and three other officials of the commission for alleged disobedience to a court order.
The RSBIR accused Brambaifa and the other alleged contemnors of acting contrary to an April 17, 2019 order of the court, which directed the commission to pay the state N50bn “being outstanding tax liabilities owed the Government of Rivers State by the respondent (NDDC).” According to the RSBIR, the court further ordered the NDDC to pay an additional N20bn “as cost incidental to the recovery of the amount owed.” The agency said in a bid to enforce the April 17 court order, it sealed off the premises of the NDDC on April 23. It, however, said officials of the NDDC, without any court order, went ahead to unseal the commission’s premises on May 6 “and repossessed same and it (NDDC) is in use of same.” The RSBIR admitted that the NDDC had appealed against the April 17 court order directing it to pay the state N50bn and another N20m. It, however, noted that the application for the stay of execution of the order which the NDDC filed came after the RSBIR had already executed the court order. As a result, the RSBIR is urging the court to commit Brambaifa and three others to prison for alleged contempt. Apart from Brambaifa, others whom the RSBIR urged the court to jail are Mr Chris Amadi, Mr Adjogbe Samuel and Mr Kaltungo Moljengo.
Source: Punch
