On Friday, the Benue State Board of Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) sealed the premises of Oracle Business, owned by former governor Samuel Ortom, due to an alleged N93.5 million tax default.
The operation, led by BIRS acting Chairman Sunday Odagba and Board Secretary/Legal Adviser Ushahemba Dekaa, also included the sealing of Jagshu Filling Station and Ubgechi Filling Station, both accused of owing N2.1 million in taxes.
In June 2024, a group supportive of Ortom, known as ‘Defenders of,’ claimed that the administration of Governor Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia was attempting to undermine Ortom’s investments in the state through such actions.
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Amos Uchiv, the group’s president, had alleged that the administration planned to target all companies under Oracle Business Limited with false claims.
Reacting to these allegations, the governor’s media aide, Solomon Iorpev, stated that the government was committed to investigating any potential diversion of state funds for private use.
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Despite the controversy, BIRS proceeded with the closure of Oracle Business last Friday.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Oracle Business, Chris Omiyi, said that the company received letters of tax evaluation totalling N138m, saying, “We sent our tax consultant to them and the liability dropped to N38m.
“Even that amount was spurious but because we are peace-loving, we agreed to pay the N38m. But there is still a dispute of N15m which we are to resolve in the office. They fixed a date for the resolution; we got there the people we deal with were not on seat.”
But the Chairman of BIRS dismissed the explanation and stated that Oracle Business and others failed in their obligations “because we had served them demand notices, they did not object and they did not pay.”
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