Bank, park owned by House of Reps member sealed

The Benue State Government has sealed City Bay Park and Benysta Microfinance Bank owned by a member of the House of Representatives, Asema Achado.

The representative of Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress confirmed this.

Achado confirmed the sealing of the recreational park to newsmen during a press briefing on Thursday in Makurdi, the state capital.

The lawmaker said that the leisure park and event centre was sealed on December 23 by government officials.

He said that the tax was N20,000, but the centre was also charged N219,000 for tax default, adding that his microfinance bank, Benysta Microfinance Bank, was also sealed.

Achado, however, said that the management of the company immediately paid the initial N20,000 and the N219,000 as well as the N20,000 unsealing fee to the Benue State Internal Revenue Service and obtained receipts.

The Rep member told newsmen that the centre was unsealed after an hour only to be sealed back till date for unknown reasons.

He said: “On December 23, officials from BIRS and the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, alongside law enforcement agents, forcibly entered and sealed the premises of City Bay Park and Benysta Microfinance Bank.

“They presented demand notices dated December 12 and 13, 2024 regarding business premises registration fees.

“Despite City Bay Park’s status as a government property, which arguably exempts it from such fees, the management of the park swiftly paid N20,000 for registration and N219,000 as default charges to avoid conflict.

“These payments were made on the 23rd of December, 2024 and receipts of these payments were duly issued by BIRS, which copies are available for reference.

“Shockingly, after an additional N20,000 was demanded and paid to unseal City Bay Park, a more aggressive enforcement team arrived and resealed both premises.”

Achado said that the second operation was marked by excessive force and harassment, including the use of tear gas, which caused distress among customers, including children and the elderly.

According to him, the arbitrary and heavy-handed sealing of the business premises by the state government was executed without authorisation from any competent court of law empowered to issue such an order.

However, the Benue State Internal Revenue Service said the exercise was carried out by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment.

The spokesman of the service, Jacob Suswam, said BIRS was only involved in the process as a revenue-collecting agency.

Suswam said: “This question should be addressed to the appropriate ministry that carried out the exercise.

“BIRS only came into the picture as a collection agency.

“The demand notice was served by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment; the assessment was conducted by the ministry, and the enforcement was carried out by the ministry too.”

Efforts to speak with the ministry’s Commissioner, Alumo Orpin, proved abortive as he did not answer calls or reply to text messages.