Imo Hotel Collapse: Developer Says Okorocha Lied; Cries Foul; Asks For Judicial Panel

By Adesina Soyooye

The ante has been upped in the case of the eight-floor hotel under construction, in Owerri, which suddenly collapsed last week.

The question since then has been: Between the two administrations of former Governors Emeka Ihedioha and Rochas Okorocha, who gave approval for the construction?

While aides of the two former governors have engaged themselves in allegations and counter allegations over whose administration the people should hold responsible for any negligence which led to the tragedy, nothing much was heard from the developer. Not even his  identity, or those of the contractors or Consultants were made public. Now, the veil is off, and the angry and frustrated developer is shooting from the hip,

His insistent question: Who dunnit?

He is anxious for an answer, and he suspects foul play.

On Thursday, at a Press Conference in Owerri, addressed by his Counsel, Barr. Soronnadi Njoku, he told his story, and his ordeal.

His name is Mr Chinedu Victor Anujuru, a young high profile international  businessman based in France.

Estimated at a cost of about N4.8billion on completion, Anujuru said he was moved by the clarion call from home to Nigerians in the Diaspora, to invest in their country. He chose his state, Imo, and embarked on the hotel project which, on completion, would have provided jobs for the teeming unemployed in the state.

The devastated developer said he followed all due and legal procedures, got approvals from both the Imo state government, then  under Governor Rochas Okorocha,  and all concerned agencies, paid all the fees attached to such approvals,  hired the best hands in the construction industry  for such high profile projects – Engineers, Architects, Consultants.

And yet?

On the collapse of the project, Anujuru is outraged that anybody connected to the Okorocha administration would say that he had no approvals for the project, and began the project on his own. He is also perplexed that anybody could claim that the Okorocha government had asked him to stop work on the project, only for him to resume again as soon as the Governor Emeka Ihedioha administration came on board.

He was, also, shocked when he heard the news that the approval he sought was for a project of six floors, not eight floors.

A source very close to him told this magazine:

“Nothing could be further from the truth. The approval by the Okorocha government  was for seven floors and a pent house”

Since the collapse of the building, allegations and counter allegations over whether the developer was given an approval or not have been rife. While some people say Okorocha gave the approval, others say Okorocha not only denied him the approval, but asked that  work be stopped,  only for him to continue with it when Ihedioha came on board.

Okorocha’s Media aide, Sam Onwuemedo, in defence of his boss, issued a press statement where he said Okorocha denied the developer an approval for the project because he was not able to provide the documents he was asked to provide. He also said the approval sought was for six floors, and not for eight floors. He insisted that when his boss saw that the project had started without his approval, he ordered that work be stopped immediately.

“Onwuemedo: “The truth of the matter is that the government of Rochas never gave approval for that building or project which began in April 2018. They came with the application  for approval, but the approval was never given because the government insisted on seeing all the necessary documents.

“In their application, they had talked about six floors. And the government demanded for all the specifications before approval could  be given. They were not forthcoming, but went ahead with the project. And when the government saw that the project was going-on, it ordered that it should be stopped.

“That was the situation until Chief  Ihedioha’s government came on board. Nobody knew what those concerned told Ihedioha, that made him to ask them to continue with the buiding.”

But those connected to the Ihedioha administration have since denied the allegations, insisting that his administration had nothing to do with the building.

Now, the developer, angry, has dismissed all the claims by Okorocha as untrue. And, he suspects, perhaps, foul play.

He is asking  that the Governor Hope Uzodinma Government set up a Judicial Panel to be headed by either a serving or retired Judge of the High Court, to get to the root of the collapse of the building.

At the press conference addressed by Soronnadi, he said that his pain at the loss of lives at the site knows no end, and has now worsened  by the lies being told about the project.

Soronnadi: “My client, having acquired the land by way of a registered land instrument dated 31st  May 2013, retained the services of Messrs Nadoz Ideas  Architects and Developers as Consultants to the project, They produced the working drawing for him, which drawings were registered and approved by Owerri Capital Development Authority. They consist of the architectural drawings, structural drawings, electrical drawings, and mechanical drawings.

“The approval of the OCDA, having been obtained, our client retained a firm of building contractors selected for him by his consultants following a competitive building process that started with 10 construction firms. Indeed, the firm finally retained, Messers Ted Consultants Nig. Ltd, submitted verified proof of their competence to execute the project by showing evidence of successful completion of similar, and even more complex projects.”

Soronnadi revealed that his client being not  an engineer,  never interfered in the construction, and never spent more than 30 minutes on the site on the very few times he visited. He also said that he received no complaints whatsoever from either OCDA, or the professionals retained to do the job. Nobody complained about the quality or quantity of the materials for the  project, he said.

Soronnadi explained that his Client was surprised that after the loss of lives, and hundreds of millions of Naira lost, an “interim report” by the Nigerian Institution of Architects “appear to be highly prejudicial to a fair, impartial and objective of the very important question: Why did the building collapse?”

He submitted that any such report  was wrong when his Client,  being a full participant in the unfortunate development was not contacted or heard from.

Finally, Soronnadi says his Client wanted nothing more than a Judicial Panel to find out the truth concerning the collapse.

Since Soronnadi’s press conference, there has been no response from the Okorocha camp to contradict him.

Whatever, Imo people are desirous of knowing the truth about the tragedy that claimed, at the last count, 15 lives, shattered dreams, and  wasted the developer’s  billions of Naira.