Uzodinma Sets To Demolishes Hotel Belonging To PDP Campaign Chairman, Mike Ikoku
The hotel was reportedly marked for total demolition by the state government, with a 21-day notice served on its management.
Imo state Governor Hope Uzodinma has reportedly ordered the closure of properties belonging to Evangelist Mike Ikoku, Chairman of the Divine Mandate Movement Campaign Organisation, a campaign council for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the November 11 governorship election in the state.
According to report by SaharaReporters, scores of armed thugs attached to the Owerri Capital Development Authority, OCDA stormed the premises housing All Seasons Hotel, Havana Cinema, Mimi Place, Boss Radio FM and Bizzibody FM and sealed property worth millions of naira.
The hotel was reportedly marked for total demolition by the state government, with a 21-day notice served on its management
The fierce-looking men, who claimed to be acting on ‘orders from above’ manhandled the General Manager of the hotel, leaving her with a broken arm. Also, they descended on the Chief Security Officer and some other staff members, leaving them with bruises and injuries. The lodgers were reportedly sent out.
In a two-minute video obtained by SaharaReporters, an elderly woman who identified herself as the General Manager of the hotel is sighted lamenting how her hand was allegedly twisted during the exercise.
“They twisted my hands, hit me and I fell on the floor. A staff member that came to lift me, was also beaten mercilessly for helping me.
“I didn’t do anything than say ‘I am the GM, please allow me to call people’ and ‘quietly move the barricades because it’s double expenses you are incurring for us’; that is my sin. I didn’t say they should not do their job. Now I’m in serious pain,” she lamented. Another lady wearing a security uniform is seen in the video crying profusely.
“They hit me with an iron, I had to run into the hotel immediately,” she said.
SaharaReporters also gathered that one of the staff members identified as Ugochukwu was taken away by the government team. However, Ikoku, the chairman of the hotel told SaharaReporters that the incident was politically motivated. According to him, part of his hotel was destroyed by Governor Uzodinma on Tuesday, by a team led by Frank Nzenwodo Nkem, the General Manager of Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA).
He explained that there are several hotels in the area, but they didn’t touch any other one apart from his. He said, “At about 8:30 am to 9 am on Tuesday, my staff called me and told me that thugs numbering about 200 with about 30 police officers invaded my hotel, All Seasons Hotel in Owerri with bulldozers.
“My staff said some people invaded the premises with caterpillars locking down some areas in my hotel. So my manager confronted them and instead of listening to her, the thugs descended on my staff, beat them up, stole their property, their telephones, claiming they were videoing them and so on and so forth.
“They entered the premises of the hotel and even molested guests. And they asked them if the place has approval. There is an approval and I have a technical drawing which was approved by the agency that is responsible for that called OCDA.
“They showed them the copies of the document and told them that this thing has approval and it was paid for according to the government law. But they didn’t listen to them, they said that I am the one that is heading the opposition party in Imo State, that I am the one financing the opposition party in Imo and because of that they will go ahead and do what they want.
“So my manager begged them, they threw her on the floor, beat her up, broke her hands, and when they called me, I told them ‘please, don’t challenge them, stay away from them’. Allow them, whatever thing they want to do. I even drove past there. When I drove there, they were locking down the place, I drove off and left, I didn’t confront them and I told them (my workers) not to confront them.
“In one area of my hotel, they wrote that the property belongs to the Bank of Industry, it’s not true. The property belongs to All Seasons Hotel, it doesn’t belong to any Bank of Industry. I have never heard of the Bank of Industry. That property was duly allocated to the hotel by the Ikedi Ohakim government.
“The hotel itself has been there for about two decades. The hotel was there when Achike was the governor. I opened the hotel on February 13, 2003. And the place they wrote ‘remove’ is a property of All Seasons Hotel, allocated to us by Ikedi Ohakim. So I wonder where the Bank of Industry came from.
“The vehicles they came with have the description of the government, Imo State Government, OCDA. They came with different vehicles of the government. The numbers are IMG and you know that’s what the government number carries.
“They came there with over 10 vehicles, different vehicles carrying people and so on – both government vehicles, tinted glass vehicles. I suspected that one Chinaza Nwayeri, an aide to the governor on special duty was inside one of the vehicles because it was tinted.
“It’s purely political, they feel I am the chairman of the campaign of the PDP governorship candidate. If it’s really non-political, why will it be only my hotel? There are more than 10 hotels that have the same green verge that protected the area with wire mesh. So why target only my hotel and leave other places where such a thing was used? So that shows that it is purely political and purely targeted at me as a person,” he added.
Meanwhile, the state government through the Director General of Imo Geographic Information Service (IGIS), Mr Chukwunyere Amaechi, in his reaction noted that OCDA acted in line with a court order.
Amarachi told journalists that the management of All Seasons sued his agency following an official notice to vacate the place. According to the statement, the partial demolition was in line with extant law and neighbourhood plan, adding that judgement was passed in favour of IGIS and communicated to the management of All Seasons Hotel Limited before the demolition took place.
He warned hotel owners and landlords within Owerri that all fenced grills on government verges will be removed, adding that generators and fuel dumps found on government verges will also be removed while all costs incurred in removing the items would be borne by the property owner.
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