The management of Imperial Boni Hotel, Ijapo Akure, the Ondo State capital has reacted to the recent closure of its operations by the State government.
The Hotel was recently shut by the State Government over what it described as alleged harboring of criminals and threat to security.
Operations manager of the Hotel, Olumide Aniya in a statement made available to The Precision NG on Wednesday stated that contrary to allegations by the government, its facility does not harbour criminals.
Aniya who noted that the management of the Hotel was shocked by the allegations leveled against it by the State Government, added that it has been in operations since the Mimiko’s administration.
He disclosed that the owner of the facility, Mr Akinloye Akinboni is a man of integrity who believed in the development and progress of the State.
The Hotel therefore called on the government to retract the allegations levelled against it.
Read the full statement below:
PRESS RELEASE.
Ondo Shuts Popular Hotel Over Alleged Security Threat.
~ OUR REJOINDER.
Imperial Boni Hotel is duly registered on September 30, 2020 with the Corporate Affairs Commission RC 1716969 and the Ondo State Ministry of Commerce and Tourism as a company under the hospitality business.
We formally opened for business in November 2020. This shows that we are less than a year in business. Since then we have been operating legally and have been law abiding corporate entity. In fact, among our customers includes many officials of the Ondo State Government and members of public including prominent citizens.
On Thursday September 2nd, 2021, the officials of the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service came to our hotel and gave us a Demand Notice for Consumption Tax Remittance for May – August 2021 amounting to N2,000,000 based on their own estimate(copy attached). Secondly, they gave us another Demand Notice for a 5-year Land Use Charge from 2017-2021 at N40,000 per year, amounting to N200,000(copy attached). We were advised to pay the Consumption Tax within 21 days and the Land Use Charge within 14 days respectively.
Fortunately, our Chairman was around to receive them. He addressed them that the Consumption Tax is not correctly calculated because no official of the IRS ever come to examine records of sales before the estimate was given. Secondly, the hotel became operational last November 2020.
While this was ongoing some men and officials of the task force started threatening to close down the hotel. At the end, they advised us to report in their office on Tuesday September 07, 2021.
It’s rather unfortunate to read on the internet today Monday September 06, 2021 wherein TVC Television Station reported thus: “Ondo Shuts Popular Hotel Over Alleged Security Threat.” Again, Ondo State Television Station and other media has been airing the news that Imperial Hotel will be closed down for security reasons.
We want to correct the report which was in bad taste for the following reasons:
(i). Our Chairman – Bashorun Akinloye Akinboni was the Special Assistant on Special Interests for seven year to former Gov. Olusegun Mimiko. He has never accommodated any criminal in his hotel and there’s no Police record of such against the hotel within the last 10 months of our operation.
(ii). Within the hotel premises, we have two police men securing our environment 24 hours daily.
(iii). We strongly believe that establishing Imperial Boni Hotel is our small contribution to creating job for the teeming unemployed youth of our State.
Finally, we are restating the fact that the owner of Imperial Boni Hotel is a law abiding citizen of Ondo State and that we are not harbouring criminals. We look forward to a retraction of this unsubstantiated statement against our existence. We are for the progress, unity and development of Ondo State and Nigeria.
Signed:
Olumide Aniya,
Operations Manager,
Imperial Boni Hotel,
Ijapo Estate,
Akure Ondo State.
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