Fmr #BIRS Chairman #Ayabam' Reacts To His Indictment By #Kpojime Commission Of Inquiry. Laywers Threaten Legal Action.

Former Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Mr. Andrew Ayabam has reacted to the report of Justice kpojime's Commission of Inquiry.
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ELOHIM CHAMBERS LEGAL PRACTITIONERS & NOTARY PUBLIC 32, IYORKYAA AKO STREET, HIGH LEVEL, MAKURDI, BENUE STATE 07063700733, 07084482218, EMAIL: elohimlawyers@gmail.com 01/03/2016
PUTTING RECORDS STRAIGHT RE: JUSTICE ELIZABETH N. KPOJIME’S ALLEGED FINDING AND RECOMMENDATION ON UNAPPROVED AWARD OF ₦2,722,084, 741.74 AND SUBSEQUENT DISBURSEMENT OF ₦252, 675,404.32 TO M/S FOCUS PROSEPECTUS LTD FOR CONSTRUCTION OF MODULAR CLASSROOMS ACROSS BENUE STATE. 

We are Solicitors to Mr. Andrew Ayabam (hereinafter referred to as ‘our client’). 

2.Our client’s attention has been drawn to a deluge of malicious media blitz both in the print and social media concerning his person and the findings and recommendations of the Hon. Justice Elizabeth Kpojime Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Funds Accruing/Received and the Utilization of Benue State Funds/Assets, 2015, apparently sponsored by some vested interests and planned to bring his name into disrepute for some reasons best known to the rabble rousers and sponsors of such news items. 

3.It is our client’s instructions, therefore, to put records straight as regard the alleged unapproved contract award and other findings and recommendations as they touch on his person, inasmuch as he has other options open to him to choose, which he will in due course, to stem the spread of this malignant falsehood calculated to eclipse his sterling rise on the political and economic landscape and horizon of Benue State and Nigeria. 

4.Concerning the contract award of ₦2,722,084,741.74 to M/S Focus Prospectus Ltd for the construction of Modular Classroom Blocks across the State, the Commission allegedly found that the contract was embarked upon during the tenure of our client as the Executive Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Service and recommended that the contract be terminated and our client be made to refund excess payments in respect of the contract already executed. The real facts on the ground which were deliberately concealed from the Justice Kpojime Commission with the sole aim of demonizing our client speak otherwise! 

5.That our client vacated the office of the Executive Chairman of the Benue Internal Revenue Service on 18th July, 2012 is not in dispute. It is also not in dispute that the award of the contract in question was done on 18th October, 2012, three months after he vacated the office.

 The annexed MOU between Benue State Government and M/S Focus Prospectus Ltd and the signatures thereto speaks for itself. Our client cannot therefore, by any stretch of imagination, be linked with the award of the contract to M/S Focus Prospectus Ltd, neither was the contract awarded during his tenure.

 6.The Judicial Commission of Inquiry was also said to have recommended that our client should refund the sum of ₦18,011,675.00 this was said to have been based on the report of the Auditor-General which indicted our client. 

7.It is our client’s instruction that the Audit Report upon which the Commission based its finding and recommendation was carried out after our client left office without any invitation extended to him and is the subject matter of litigation before the Court of Appeal Abuja Division between Benue State Government and our client in Appeal No. CA/A/57/2014, which appeal is yet to be heard and determined. These facts were obviously concealed from the Justice Elizabeth Kpojime Judicial Commission of Inquiry with the sole aim of misleading it to make findings and recommendations that it would otherwise have not made against our client. 

8.It may interest the peddlers and sponsors of the malicious publications against our client to know that on 22nd October, 2015 the Government of Benue State submitted to a consent judgment in NICN/MKD/25/2014 Between our client and Benue State Government in which the sum of ₦100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira) was awarded against the Government to be paid to our client. The Government commenced payment soon after the release of the Justice Kpojime Judicial Commission of Inquiry. This fact has also been concealed and suppressed. 

9.While our client is not going to leave any stone unturned to seek redress for the wrongs done to him, it is hoped that those who are bent on ignorantly disseminating falsehood will take time to verify facts before going to press with sensational news knowing that there are consequences for libelous and slanderous publication.

 PP: Elohim Chambers

 T. Oscar Aorabee, Esq.

 Managing Counsel