Evang. Myke Ikoku plays big in the hospitality, tourism and entertainment sectors of the southeast. As a matter of fact, he is deservedly called the Doyen of the trio in that part of the country. Lately, however, he’s been having some issues with the Imo State Government, led by Governor Hope Uzodimma. The situation got so bad that he had to cry out recently in a video which he recorded and shared on his social media handles over his alleged persecution.

We got the multimillionaire businessman to shed more light on the issue.

Excerpts…

What exactly is happening between you and the government of Imo State? You released a video where you accused them of moving against you, your businesses and all that…

To be honest with you, I can’t say what is wrong, because you know, I am not the aggressor. But what I know is that they have come for my business interests and I don’t know what went wrong. But I know that this same government has been In my good books and I have been in their good books, because when they came into power, as an investor in the state, I supported them because I want to have a prosperous, peaceful state so that my business can also prosper. You know that in the hospitality and tourism business, the only thing that can make it work is peace – peace and security. That’s what you need for tourism and hospitality to thrive. So, because of that, I supported the government. I even floated an organization that I used in promoting the government when it came into power, because they had a credibility issue and most of us that own businesses in Imo and that want a stable state went out of our way to support the government and to make the government work. So, where this dislocation came from, I can’t say. But currently, the state is becoming inhabitable for me and my businesses. That’s the situation.

So, why do you think that a government you had a good relationship with at inception would suddenly move against you to the extent that you are crying out that they want to wreck your businesses? I remember your organization then called Hopism, in support Governor Hope Uzodimma…

Actually, I always stand by the people because I live in Imo, I also have my businesses in Imo and if the state is not habitable and peaceful, those businesses will not work. So, I have been an advocate of a peaceful state, I have been an advocate of a well governed state. When he started, I had all the belief and hope and confidence that things would be okay.

But as we moved on, I discovered that things were not what I was expecting and I tried on one or two occasions to talk to the governor who is my friend to see reasons with Imo people, but when I discovered that I was not making sense, I took a walk.

We know that both of you have some mutual friends. Have you reached out to them to maybe intervene or find a way of resolving whatever the differences are?

Yes, I have been speaking to most of our mutual friends. But actually, to be honest, let me not put all the blame on the governor. We are very close. He used to be my very, very close friend. He likes me and I like him, but I think the problem he has with me may be some of my relations who are from the same town with me, and these are young men who have envied me right from when I was young; they are close to his government and they are the ones that see him everyday. So, I believe that whatever dislocation that I may have in my relationship with him (Uzodimma) must have been as a result of whatever those my brothers told him. I have four of them who are with him and I believe they must be the reason behind the problem I have with the governor. I don’t know, but that’s what I think. Because the governor and I never had any direct confrontation.

What other efforts are you making to see that this issue is resolved amicably?

As a law abiding citizen, the first thing I should do is to go to court. I have gone to court and as we speak, I have an injunction issued against the state not to come near my business until the determination of the case. So, they are the ones that are becoming lawless because the matter is already in court and yet they had the guts to come back there the second time against the ruling of the court. So, I have done what I’m supposed to do by going to court to seek a redress and I’ve also called on the media, called on Nigerians to please help me and intervene because if you are in your house and somebody visits you, and stays in front of your gate and starts throwing stones inside your house and breaking your glasses and your doors, what are you going to do? The best thing to do is to start calling your neighbours to help you and then you prepare yourself. If you have a cutlass or gun, you get them ready in case they break down your doors so that you can defend yourself. That is the situation now.

You threatened to shut down your businesses in Imo in the event that this whole thing continues. We know about All Season Hotel, Mimi and so on. On the whole, what’s your staff strength, because they are going to be thrown into the labour market should that happen?

First, I’m not a new person in business in Imo. My first industrial presence in Imo was launched in 1993, when I set up the biggest confectionery factory in the South-East. The factory is still there. Businesses are down generally, but back then we were producing over 100 bags of flour in a day. I have chains of businesses in Imo State. I’m also into broadcasting, I have two radio stations in Imo State. I have the biggest cinema in the South-East. I have All Season Hotel, I have Mimi, so the people that work for me, both directly and indirectly, are more than 4,000! And if for any reason I decide to close everything down, that means I’m going to send between 4000 – 5000 people into the unemployment market.

Some people said you combined politics with business at some point and that it could be responsible for what is now happening to you…

I don’t think so. Do you know why? I didn’t come to Imo as a politician. I came to Imo as a businessman. It’s just the situation that I have found myself in. Also, when people who don’t have experience in creating jobs and the management of successful businesses are the ones making policies that instead of promoting and encouraging the businesses, they are destroying the businesses, what do you do? That’s actually why I decided to get involved in politics, because politics determines and decides for us whether we succeed or fail in business. So, that’s the thing that made me change my mind, to say okay, I’m gonna get involved, because if I don’t get involved, at the end of the day, some people who own nothing in Imo State will destroy businesses in Imo and walk away. We are the people that own businesses in Imo and we will be left to suffer the consequences. So, that was my reason for engaging in politics. I also engage in politics because it’s my right.

I even have the right to vie for any position if I want to. I have the right to support anybody I want to, or belong to any group or any society. I am a voter. Being a voter already is a civic responsibility that as a citizen I must perform. So, being a voter, does it also make you a politician? No! As a voter, you must choose who you want, you must vote, because it’s your civic responsibility. So, I don’t think I did anything wrong by getting involved and in deciding who will also decide our fate in politics. I got involved because the government wasn’t working and I didn’t see the change that the people are yearning for, which we thought we would get from this government. That was why I decided to join another of my friends, who I believe would have done better.

But the elections are over! INEC has declared the results. So, it’s time for whoever INEC has declared the winner to go into the business of governance. You are supposed to govern both those that voted for you and those that did not vote for you. That’s politics!

If you run into Governor Hope Uzodimma somewhere, what would you say to him?

I will tell him that he’s doing very badly, because he’s my friend. Let me ask one question: what is that thing that made me a bad person today? When I was supporting him years back, was I a bad person? We must be able to draw a line between politics and relationships/personalities. Moreover, this is Myke Ikoku. I’m different. All Season Hotel is also a different entity. I’m not All Season, I’m Myke Ikoku. So, we must understand that a business enterprise is different from an individual.

What do you think would be the effect of what is happening to someone like you to the inflow of investments into Imo?

To be honest with you, Myke Ikoku is not the loser. Because, let me tell you, no matter what you do to a cow, it will not come down to becoming a goat. Never! The issue is not Myke Ikoku, the issue is those families that are benefiting from me.

Even if I decide to close down the businesses, do you know I will make more profit as of today? Why? Because for the past three years, that business has not made any profit for me and I have been investing more and more. I will make money from my business in Lagos; a state which is not hostile to me, I will use it to subsidize them every month. So, if I close this down, I will save that money and invest it. But what has stopped me from taking that decision is because the same members of staff that I am going to put into the unemployment market, many years ago, they were making profit for me. And I can’t because of something that is not their making, close down the businesses and put them back into the unemployment market. Sincerely, I will make more money closing down the businesses because nothing is working in Imo State anymore.

Have you learnt any lesson from what is happening to you now in Imo State and politics generally?

Yes, I’ve learnt a very serious lesson. Many. Not just one.

So, what are the lessons?

You can’t be using one side of your mouth to go to Lagos and other places and talk to Igbos to bring down their businesses to the South-East and you are using the other side to close down those that are already existing, and that people are watching how they are performing before they will also come back home. You can’t also ask our people that live abroad to bring down their investments here, that you are looking for foreign direct investments; everyday we are talking about FDI, and so on. How can there even be FDIs when the ones here are not performing? The FDIs will first watch the capacity, the productivity of the LDIs before they’ll think about coming down. That is why Imo State cannot attract any foreign direct investments anywhere, because the environment in Imo doesn’t support any success in business. That’s why we are not getting anything. So, my fear is not for Myke Ikoku, my fear is for Imo State that may end up not getting anything, both local direct investments and foreign direct investments. Everybody will lose confidence, and they will not invest in Imo. With every sense of modesty, I’m like the doyen of entertainment and tourism in the southeast. I should be the first person to bring the hospitality business to Imo State. When people see me, because of how confident I was taking my businesses to the East and I’ve been campaigning for people to bring down their businesses to Imo too, if I can be feeling this pain, and calling for help, what then is happening to those little businesses that have no voice? That is the question Igbo people should be asking, because it is the Igbo people that will suffer this; the five Igbo states are the ones that will suffer it, because Imo State is going to export poverty, export unemployment, export insecurity, export hunger to the other four southeast states. This is because Imo is a very strategically located state. It has boundaries with all the South-East states and these boundaries we are talking about are just artificial. It’s only on paper. Some people don’t even recognize that there is a boundary between Imo and Anambra, which means farmers, Okada riders, Keke riders move between Imo and Anambra easily; between Imo and Abia, between Imo and Ebonyi. That’s the same way unemployment, insecurity and hunger will move because Imo is not doing well.

Again, what efforts are you making on your own to sort out these issues with the government and the governor?

Like I said earlier, I have done my part as a law abiding citizen to go to court. I’m not afraid of anybody! Because, one, the land in question was properly, legally and legitimately allocated to me by another governor who supported my business, and this is the first time that I’m having an issue with a government in Imo State. From 1999 when Achike Udenwa became the governor, he supported me to set up that business. The government that followed was Ikedi Ohakim’s. He was the one that allocated this same land they want to take away from me. The land was allocated to me legitimately by Ikedi Ohakim, and this land I have developed, I have the CofO of the land. Why would you just come and say you want to take it over? A land that another government that supported me gave to me? No! We all belong to that state. Nobody can take away something that belongs to me like that. Never! It will not happen.

Why is the government interested in the land? Any specific reason for wanting to take the land from you?

They can’t take the land. The highest they can do is this thing they are doing. Because we are in court. Yet as I speak to you, they have not filed anything in court. They couldn’t file anything because they do not have any documents to file. So, they are the ones that should answer that question – what is their interest in the land? Why are they coming to my place when they know that the land in question belongs to All Season. It was allocated and it has a CofO. What are they coming there to do? They should answer Nigerians.

Generally, how do you feel about this whole experience? This is the first time we are seeing you this agitated…

Let me tell you this – they are just making me popular unnecessarily, because I don’t even need it. My interest is just to

Keep my business going and put a smile on the faces of my workers. The hardship is too much. We are all managing, and I’m managing with my workers for them to survive. A lot of the people working for me are orphans, some are training their aged parents, some are training themselves in schools and these are the people they want to remove food from their mouths. Not Myke Ikoku, because no matter what anybody does, I can’t get poor. My family will be okay. But what about these poor Imo workers that I have kept in my payroll for many years? What did they do to the government? You can’t give them jobs, somebody else is giving jobs to them and yet you want to make them lose the jobs that you can’t give them. I am happy and not agitated because I have not broken any law and I am not ready to break any law. I am on the part of the truth, so why would I be afraid or agitated? I’m not! I’m just speaking to Ndi Imo and Ndigbo for them to see that we talk about “Akuruoulo”, which means we should invest at home, but we are not putting it into practice.

They are talking about Akuruoulo from one side of the mouth and using another side to destroy it. We can’t be destroying ourselves by ourselves. Because power is transient. That someone is governor today does not mean you’ll stay there forever. You will leave someday and someone else will become governor.

When did you start noticing that the government was moving against you, considering that Uzodimma used to be your friend and you supported him when he came in newly?

Actually, I noticed it when I started the advocacy for good governance in Imo State. Because I always act as the voice of the people. I was expecting something different and I didn’t see it. So, when I didn’t see it, I took a walk. Because I don’t feed from the government. As I speak with you, I have never done any contract in Imo State before. I’ve been here since 1999 when this democracy started. When I was made the chairman of Imo Tourism Corporation by Ikedi Ohakim, in the four years of Ikedi Ohakim, I never collected a salary. It was because of my success in hospitality and tourism that made Ikedi appoint me. I didn’t take any allowance, I didn’t take any salary, I served the government voluntarily and honourably. That is what governance and politics should be all about. Not a moneymaking venture. I did it and they should go and verify.

Finally, what is the way out of this crisis?

Let Imo people, let Ndigbo, let Nigerians, wherever they are, speak out. Because injustice to one is injustice to all. It is Myke Ikoku today, nobody knows who it will be tomorrow. We should never allow impunity to happen in our land because it will discourage our brothers and sisters that are living abroad and in other places. You can’t be telling them to come back home to invest and the ones that are there, you are destroying them. You can’t do it all alone, you need everyone. A lot of our people are very rich, but scared, because of things like this. If we continue to behave the way we are, we will continue to scare them away. We should be our brother’s keeper, we should make the environment conducive for businesses to thrive. It can be me today, it may not be me tomorrow. So, we need to stop discouraging local direct investors, because if we discourage local direct investors, there will never be any foreign direct investments that will come into our state.

That is where I’m standing. My own is to talk and we believe that the government will listen.

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