'Ohakim Must Beg Me': Pre-Election Chat With Citizen Samuelson Iwuoha

By Chuks OLUIGBO, Andy ADIBEMMA and Ben AHANONU

Who is Citizen Samuelson Iwuoha?

Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha is a man from a very humble background, a very simple man. I am 39 years old. I am a native of Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State. I am married with two lovely kids. I am a businessman, a politician, a social critic, a social crusader, a public opinion analyst, a radical opinion writer, and of course, a freedom fighter.

Samuelson Iwuoha

A freedom fighter? But out there we hear that you are a common kerosene seller. How much education do you have, really?

Of course, I am also ‘an ordinary kerosene dealer who doesn’t want to mind his business’. Educationally, I don’t have much education, according to Ohakim government. I started my primary education at Abakpa Nike Primary School, Uwani Enugu and completed it at Uzii Layout Primary School in Owerri; did my secondary education at Government Secondary School, Owerri; and then got admission to Federal Polytechnic, Nekede when it was The Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri. I studied Electrical Electronics Engineering. After that I ventured into business. After many years when my business had stabilised, I thought it wise to go back to school. I enrolled in the Institute for Continuing Education Programme (ICEP) at the Imo State University where I read Business Management. It is a weekend programme. So, you can see that somebody who attended a weekend programme in a university is not educated. That is it.

What is your motivating factor?

You see, my nature as a social crusader does not allow me to keep quiet when things are continually going wrong economically, socially, culturally, and politically in my environment. Personally, I hate to see people being punished unjustly. I hate to see people being subjected to untold hardships. These are personal feelings. I hate to see people crying just unnecessarily when we know that if we have a purposeful leadership, we are supposed to be smiling and praising God. 

For quite some time now you have made yourself the worst critic of the Ohakim administration. What really is your grouse against the Ohakim government?

The essence of criticism is just to encourage the person who is being criticised to sit up. I’m not an armchair critic. My essence of criticising Ikedi Ohakim is for him to sit up and face leadership and governance. His political showmanship, he is leading us as if he is selling drugs in an ABC bus. It’s nonsense. You will agree with me that when Ikedi Ohakim was sworn in as the governor of this state in May 2007, he was wholeheartedly received by over 90 percent of Imo citizens, not because he was needed, but because Imo needed peace. At that time there was a very serious political crisis in the state. So, his emergence, so to say, was because the state needed peace. But the man shot himself in the foot by embarking on many anti-people programmes and policies, thinking that nobody would have the capacity to challenge him. Take the Clean and Green Initiative. That programme is a very good programme; I have to say it openly. But its implementation has been totally flawed. The thing is totally one-sided. He started destroying the property of the poor citizens of this state, saying they are illegal structures. But we have rich people who also have illegal structures and property in this state, yet he refused to destroy them at the pace he destroyed the property belonging to the poor masses. Like the Aladimma Royal Suites, that building is an illegal structure. The owner of that property is my personal friend, His Royal Highness, Eze Dr. Emeka Njoku. The hotel is sitting on top of water pipe channel. You don’t build such a gigantic project in a housing estate (Aladimma Housing Estate). Then I also raised the issue of Garden Park Business Centre. The owner of that place is Ohakim’s very good friend, Owelle Eddy Ononuju. Ohakim gave him 18 months (that is, one full year and six moths) to relocate to another place he showed him, plus N5 million compensation. I said: what about the poor masses? This is not how to be a governor. This is not leadership. This is not governance. This is witch-hunting. That actually motivated me, and I came up to challenge the maladministration, devaluation of leadership, and unreasonableness of the Ohakim government. Of course, I know you are going to ask me if my businesses were also destroyed. Yes, my own businesses were also destroyed, my kerosene businesses. But, it wasn’t that factor that actually gingered me into action. No. I saw people crying and it pushed me out because I’m also a human being. So, in the process of challenging these anomalies in his style of leadership, I started discovering large scale fraud. When I say fraud, I don’t mean N10 million or N100 million. I mean, real criminalities, real fraud. Ohakim is a fraudster, and I have challenged him several times. The man is a criminal, and I say it with all boldness. He is a thief.

 Out there, the speculation is that you are making money from your activism. The feeling is that as ‘a common kerosene dealer’, where do you get the millions of naira to place advertorials in national newspapers and magazines? The thinking is that you are being sponsored. Who are the people behind your activism?

Let me tell you the truth, Ikedi Ohakim is the person sponsoring me; he is the person engineering me in my activism because if the man had not been stealing, I would not have had time to be investigating him. If Ikedi Ohakim had not been using state funds to buy property all over the world, I would not have had time to be exposing him. So, logically, using rationality calculus, he is the one engineering and sponsoring me in my activism. The question of his so-called political enemies, if at all he has any political enemies, sponsoring me, that is his own imagination. For your information, yes I am an ordinary kerosene dealer, but I make bold to tell you that I am the biggest kerosene dealer in this state, with seventeen workers. I am the state deputy chairman of Surface Tank Kerosene Dealers Association. I am a licenced peddler registered with Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). You are interviewing me in my house and this particular place is my personal property. You have seen my cars; I have two vehicles there. I am a self-made man. The issue is not that I am an ordinary kerosene dealer. Rather, the issue is: does it mean that an ordinary kerosene dealer cannot challenge criminality and anomalies in governance, or challenge a sitting governor? At least I have the ability, and they have acknowledged it. Why are they afraid of me? I live in the state capital; I don’t live in either Abuja or Lagos. I don’t live in Port Harcourt. I live right in the heart of the state capital.

When you had the famous encounter with the state governor in which you said you were flogged, you claimed that you were given about 120 strokes of the cane. How come you were able to count?

I did not say I was given 120 strokes of koboko. I said ‘I must have received over 120 strokes of koboko’. Now they are two different things. I wasn’t counting them, but as a human being who was receiving these koboko whips, I’m telling you the truth, the almighty God is my witness, I must have received over 120 strokes of koboko from this debilitating monster called Ikedi Ohakim right inside his office.

Citizen Samuelson, is this true? Because government is debunking it; they say it is a lie. Can we hear from the horse’s mouth? Is it true? Did it really happen?

Well, almighty God is my witness; I can never tell lies. If I am telling lies, may it never be well with me; may I never see anything good in this life. Woe betide me if I am falsely accusing this criminal, Ikedi Ohakim. It is very unfortunate that the man came down from his gubernatorial heights to display the act of a local tout. It’s very unfortunate, right inside the governor’s office, desecrating the office of the governor. It happened. I cannot tell lies. In fact, I went to Abuja recently to honour the invitation of the National Human Rights Commission, and I gave them details. I write everyday, and I have given the graphic details, bit by bit, of how everything happened. The caption of the report is ‘Ikedi Ohakim, now as Deji of Akure, is deposed and banished’.

Now all the revelations of the alleged fraudulent financial transactions of the Ohakim government that you have been publishing in national dailies and on the Internet, where do you get your information from?

Well, I am not a licenced forensic writer; I am a self-made forensic writer. Appetite comes with eating. So, in the process of challenging the anomalies in the Clean and Green Initiative of the Ohakim government, I discovered all these fraudulent acts of his government. I started digging. If you are drilling a borehole, continue drilling until you reach water. So, I continued digging until I reached the water level of Ohakim’s fraudulent activities. I have all the facts, and he knows it. It’s an open thing. He knows; let him challenge me.

Is the dredging of the Nworie River included in the fraudulent activities you are talking about?

Nworie Stream, not River. Of course it is included. Nworie Stream dredging is a fraud. In March 2009 when Ohakim awarded that contract to Roudo Nigeria Limited owned by Chief Tony Chukwu at over N8.5 billion, he claimed that the project was being co-ordinated by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). But let me tell you the truth, as at that time, NDDC was not in the picture. NDDC only came into the picture this year when the Federal Government did its own budget. Quote me. I have all these details. So, when I am talking of fraud, Ohakim is a fraud. He came from the fraud world. So, at times he forgets that he is the governor of the state and sees Imo State as his maga.

From the home front now, specifically from Nkwerre, it appears that one of those that have been in the forefront of debunking your position is Rex Anunobi, Special Adviser, Political to the governor, who is from Nkwerre. So, how have your people, the Nkwerre people, been receiving you against the backdrop of Eshi of Nkwerre’s recent call on sons and daughters of Nkwerre to support Ohakim?

You see, Rex Anunobi is only justifying his pay. That is the truth. And he still calls me on phone and says: My brother, take it easy now. He is justifying his pay. He is my elder brother, and this is a public interview. So, I won’t like to disparage him publicly. The only thing I can say is that he is justifying his pay. As for Eshi of Nkwerre, he is a traditional ruler in Imo State. Traditional rulers are not supposed to be involved in politics or political affairs in the state. Unfortunately, I am most disappointed in him. I had to harass him few weeks ago and he sent emissaries to beg me to calm down. I won’t want to go into details because he is still my traditional ruler. But I want it to be on record that Ikedi Ohakim pleaded with His Royal Highness Eze Dr. Chijioke Okwara on 29 March, 2010 to intervene in his (Ohakim’s) problem with Citizen Samuelson. He pleaded so that Eshi will call me and beg me to calm down. Eshi himself called me on phone on April 1, 2010. We spoke at length and he requested that I should come home on April 3, 2010 to settle the problem between Ikedi Ohakim and my very self. On April 3, I didn’t go home. I simply sent my Special Assistant, Mr. Chikwado Obi, to deliver a letter to Eshi, giving him conditions under which I will sheath my sword against the Ohakim government.

What are those conditions?

Those conditions included Ohakim apologising to me in five radio stations, five television stations, five national newspapers, five local newspapers, and five online news sites; responding to my allegations of corruption against him; and then paying compensation to all the people whose property were illegally destroyed between August 2007 and April 2008, among others.

It is in the nature of sitting governments in Nigeria to invite their bitter critics for financial settlement. Have you ever been invited for any such thing by the Ohakim administration?

Of course now; it is a notorious fact. A fraudulent government that has been exposed will always find a way to make peace. They see me as an Andrew’s Liver Salt effervescence which must surely settle down once he is settled, but I have proved to them that I am not the kind of person that can be settled with money. I have seen money. I made my first million in 1994. I have been in business. What else? We are talking of truth about leadership. I’m not attacking Ohakim’s government because I want him to give me money. If actually I’m out to make money from him, I know how to anchor him. But it is not in my nature. Since I started this struggle, I have never collected money from Ohakim or any member of the Ohakim government. Even from his so-called political enemies and opposition, I have not. Yes, even though once in a while, it is natural for people to say: Brother, you are trying; you are doing very well; we need people like you; keep it up, and all that. You know, it is encouragement. Encouragement doesn’t mean you have been given millions. No. Encouragement can come in through many avenues, and not necessarily by giving you money. I’m too big. If I want to make money, I’m in a position to be making not less that N50 million every month. I have the ability; I have the contacts; and I know what to do. But I want to remain as I am; let the whole world judge me.

You are complaining about maladministration in Imo State, and the same Ikedi Ohakim is warming up to come back in 2011. What do you have to say about this?

Ikedi Ohakim wants to re-elect himself. That is his own thinking. He cannot re-elect himself. The people of Imo State will not even re-elect him. I can assure you that personally. I am going to match him with everything available. I will match him. He will lose because the essence of being re-elected is that you have performed creditably in your first tenure; you performed; you gave the people purposeful leadership. But everything about Ikedi Ohakim’s leadership is all about fraud, criminality, and women. You know, a sitting governor sleeping with girls in the governor’s office; Ikedi Ohakim flogging a citizen of Imo State in the governor’s office. Let me tell you, I don’t spare words when I am discussing Ohakim. I don’t spare words. Ikedi Ohakim will not win election come 2011.

Sir, we want to know, this your campaign, is it a one-off thing with this government or is it ongoing?

Well, I have started with Ohakim. This my crusade started in September 2007. Unfortunately, that was when Ohakim’s government was barely four months old. Though I started with Ohakim, I am branching out. I have an agency called SLAP Initiative – Safeguarding Leadership, Accountability and Productivity. It is not going to be a state thing. I’m spreading out. Luckily for me, Ohakim has made me a national figure free of charge. It’s not a laughing matter. He has made me a national figure, and I’m spreading out. They said Gani Fawehinmi is dead. Fine, he died on 5 September, 2009; but there is a new Gani, and this country must feel the heat. If you feel that you are corrupt and nobody can challenge you, believe me, you are gone. I’m coming. I’m using Imo State as a test case. By the time I finish with Ohakim, other state governors will know that I’m not joking.

Since you started this crusade, have you been receiving threats to your life?

Of course, I receive threats on daily basis. They all know where I live. Ohakim himself, with his own mouth, in a live television programme on NTA channel 12 Owerri on 8 October, 2008 threatened to jail me because I’m an ordinary kerosene dealer. Those were his exact words. He called me an ordinary kerosene dealer who doesn’t want to mind his business. That was when I exposed how he has been looting the resources of this state. It was published by the Newsbearer Magazine. I have been receiving threats, and the thing culminated in Ohakim personally beating me up in his office at gun point. But I cannot because I received threats recoil in my timidity. It is not possible because I am a warrior.

Ok, because I was going to ask: are you not afraid? Supposing they kill you?

It is not possible. Ohakim has done his worst. In my account of how he desecrated the office of the governor, I told him point-blank that he has done his worst. It’s now my turn. I will deal with him.

The governor has control over the instruments of power and force in the state. Are you sure you can contend with him effectively?

But he is applying it negatively. And that is where he has got it all wrong. Let me tell you, Ikedi Ohakim, I will fight him to the end.

The feeling out there is that you are grand-standing. As soon as you are given appointment now you will calm down.

I have called his administration a fraud-infested leadership. So, how can I associate myself with a universally acclaimed and accepted fraud-infested government? I don’t need it. I’m a social crusader, yes, but I also see myself as an evangelist, a prophet. Prophets don’t accept appointments. Even when a new government comes in today, believe me, I will not accept. Even if I’m supporting a particular candidate and that candidate becomes the governor of the state tomorrow, I will not accept any appointment from him, and if he starts misbehaving, I will eat him because he saw how I have dealt with Ohakim. Then for him to come in and start misbehaving, I will eat him raw, believe me.

Are you a card carrying member of any political party? And which party is that?

Of course I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I have been a member of PDP since September 1998. So I am 12 years old as a card carrying member. I am not a gambler or a political prostitute. I am a member of PDP in Imo State. That makes me a politician, but that is by the way.

You said you are a member of the PDP, and there are many irregularities going on in the PDP both in Imo State and at the national level. And then the way you mention Ikedi Ohakim, it is as if you have a personal squabble with him and not his administration. So, if you are genuinely exposing the ills of the Ohakim government, you should also extend it to other areas, including the PDP.

When Vincent Ogbulafor was the national chairman of PDP and all these problems started and were complicating, I also did so many write-ups, like the one I called “Ogbulafor, PDP and National Working Committee”, and I dealt with them. I have written over 412 published articles. It is not all about Ohakim. I’ve been spreading my tentacles. Recently I also did an article on Jonathan which I titled “How the Exit of Yar’Adua brought Goodluck to Nigeria”. It is a very beautiful article that has been published by over 500 newspapers, magazines and online sites. I have written against PDP. PDP is a fraud. I am a member of the party but the party is a fraud. That is why this Reform Group people are working hard to see if they can remove those ingredients of fraud in the party, and they have succeeded in removing Ogbulafor. Gradually, things will come back to normalcy. Ikedi Ohakim will soon follow suit because the man is a smelling governor.

INEC, Maurice Iwu is out, Attahiru Jega is in. How do you see 2011 election with Jega steering the ship?

Attahiru Jega, if he is still the Attahiru Jega that I have known since 1992, I am very optimistic that 2011 election will be very credible, more credible than the 1993 election. Jega is a radical. He is also a social crusader. He was a Vice-Chancellor, and I believe he is mentally prepared to grapple with the problems in INEC. But if by any manipulation he tries to be funny, trust me, I will be on ground to twist his neck.

Now on a final note, this is a worst case analysis. If by any chance Ohakim suddenly repents, becomes a good man and presents himself for 2011, will you support him?

For Ohakim to suddenly repent because of 2011 election? Chei! The truth is if he is elected, he will go back to his old Ohakim. A fraudster will remain a fraudster. If he repents now, I will see it as a format to cajole the people of Imo State to vote for him. Let me tell you, Ikedi Ohakim will never be my friend. He will never be my father. In short, I have rejected the devil and all his works. I will fight him to the end. He may repent, that is for himself alone, but I can assure you that he will not win 2011 election. As you can see, I’m dragging the international human rights community to Imo State, as well as other world organisations, because of Ikedi Ohakim’s assault on me, an ordinary kerosene dealer. No. if you are talking about 2011, he will not win election. When the chips are down, you will see. His next abode is in the prison yard, and I will do everything humanly possible to make sure he goes to jail.