January 07, (THEWILL) – Erstwhile socialite, Myke Ikoku, is back, years after he disappeared from the social scene. Unfortunately, his return has been marked with pain, sorrow and bitterness. The businessman’s prized possession, All Seasons Hotel, which has existed for 20 years, has been demolished by the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma.
Ikoku claimed that his hotel was demolished because he decided to switch sides to the opposing camp after seeing that his vision for Imo State did not align with that of Uzodinma. According to him, all the successive governments in the state had always supported his business because he changed the face of tourism in the South-East and people started coming back home to invest in the region.
The parcel of land on which Ikoku’s hotel extension was built on, was initially allocated to the Bank of Commerce and Industry in 1982 and 2007, but it was not developed. Emeka Ihedioha, who was governor at that time, asked him to apply for the land. It was eventually allocated to him with an offer letter.
After fulfilling all the necessary conditions, the government issued Ikoku a Certificate of Occupancy and he erected a structure worth N1.2 billion there. But after he fell out with Uzodinma, he got into the governor’s bad books, he was told that the parcel of land no longer belonged to him. The hotel was demolished and his staff were harassed.
Ikoku also claims that government revenue agencies came to two of his other business outlets, the Havana Cinema and Mimi Entertainment Centre and asked him to pay N130 million as consumption tax. He was given an additional bill of N35 million. Before he could act, the business outlets were shut down. He decided to head to court to sue the state government for trampling on his and his staff’s fundamental human rights and to also challenge them for double taxation – VAT and consumption tax. Despite the court case, the government came to his business premises without a court bailiff to arrest his staff and seal off the business.
Ironically, prior to the demolition, Ikoku and Uzodinma were very good friends. He supported the governor during his first tenure and even set up an organisation called Hopism. The goal was to create a forum where governance meets the people. He single-handedly funded it to ease up the rejection of the people towards him when he was battling with his legitimacy issues.
Unfortunately when the governor’s style of government was becoming foreign to the indigenes and they started complaining, Ikoku approached Uzodinma and asked him to look into the complaints. It was obvious that the people of the state were not getting the desired infrastructure and good governance. When it became obvious that the government had derailed, he walked away and started advocating good governance and peace in the state. He joined the people and started searching for good governance. And thus began his problems with Uzodinma,
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
