Ibadan – The Oyo State government through the Oyo State Bureau of Internal Revenue (OYSBIR) has sealed off the offices Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company ( IBEDC) over non-payment of its accumulated tax liability.
The electricity distribution company offices were sealed off on Wednesday by officials of the state tax board backed by armed security personnel.
The affected offices are located in Ibadan and other parts of the state.
As a result, the entire residents and business premises in the state are now in total blackout.
Shedding more light on the development , the Chief Press Secretary to the state Governor, Mr Taiwo Adisa, said that government was only enforcing a court judgment by sealing of the offices of IBEDC in the state.
Adisa, stated that the state obtained a court ” judgement on Tuesday, February 8 to seal IBEDC offices and the order was carried out today.”
According to him, IBEDC is owing the state government an accumulated tax liability of N500 million which it has refused to pay in spite of several demand notices
In a swift reaction, IBEDC described the action of the state government as retaliatory, insisting that the action was borne out of the government’s huge indebtedness of N450 million to it.
The company in a statement signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Mr John Ayodele, said the Oyo State Government has been owing IBEDC a whopping consumption outstanding of N450million for three years.
” Oyo state Government on Wednesday commenced the sealing of our offices within the state over some suddenly contrived debts labelled revenue bills and personal income tax without due notification,” IBEDC said in a statement.
It described the action as retaliatory and illegal, adding that the issue of revenue bills and personal income tax arising now is quite suspicious.
The companies explained that all efforts it made to get the government to pay the outstanding N450 million debt proved abortive.
” We initiated several engagements through correspondences and physical meetings, but all these efforts yielded no result .
“No business in this country can run successfully with such a huge outstanding, the power we distribute to customers must be accounted for and paid for, we have no choice but to disconnect the Oyo State Secretariat, so it is worrisome to see that the government has sealed off our offices with this underhand and arm twisting tactics , instead of paying the debt owed.
“This was not done in good faith and it would have damaging effect on the business and service delivery to our customers .
” The company implored Governor Seyi Makinde to look into the matter in the interest of all concerned as this would further worsen the power challenges and pressure on residents and commercial activities within the state,” the statement said. (vitalnews)
