Little did they know that this wasn't actually a luxury ride but one that would take Mr Iwuoha to hell. On that day, the governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, took it upon himself to personally flog the 40-year-old father of two. Right inside the governor's office, the governor, armed with a horsewhip, stripped Mr Iwuoha completely naked and for almost two hours flogged him like an erring donkey.
The activist, who has filed several legal suits against the governor, said his experience is one he will not forget in a hurry. He said it is his efforts to point out the excesses of state officials that have turned him into the governor's number one enemy.
But an aide to the governor, Henry Ekpe, decribed Mr Iwuoha as little more than a criminal. He said the conviction of the man by a state magistrate should caution reporters against believing his story.
"This matter has been over-flogged by the press," Mr Ekpe, the spokesperson to the governor, said. "He was taken to court over the defamation of the character of the governor and he was convicted. I learnt he appealed, but the appeal was thrown out. He is even a jail bird as I'm talking to you now over this allegation. I don't know why he is revisiting that issue. What he said was discovered to be baseless and he was convicted over the allegation. Nothing of such ever happened. He raised this issue to smear the character of the governor. It was discovered to be a fabrication and he was jailed."
The abused man however said his conviction had nothing to do with the substance of his allegations. "The magistrate sentenced me to three months in jail for abusing the judicial process," he said. "On July 2, 2010, I went to court for the usual hearing of my suit against the governor and the chief magistrate, Victoria Isiguzo, said I granted an interview with a local paper. The magistrate sentenced me to three months in prison for granting an interview on a matter that was still pending in court."
Enemy No. 1
Mr Iwuoha, when asked how he was transformed from being a staunch supporter of the governor to being his number one enemy, said his refusal to keep quiet in the face of misgovernance was the source of his suffering.
"When Ikedi Ohakim was sworn in as the governor of Imo State, he was wholeheartedly received by the people," he said. "People believed that his coming into governance will bring the needed peace. But unfortunately, he shot himself in the foot when he embarked on the destruction of the economic activities of the poor masses without cogent reasons."
Mr Iwuoha confronted Mr Ohakim by putting his pen to work. He churned out a series of commentaries in the vibrant local media in Owerri as well as in national newspapers where he highlighted the alleged misrule and misappropriations of the Ohakim's administration.
His write-ups caught the governor's attention.
"The governor became jittery", he said. According to Mr Iwuoha, in a desperate means to shut him up, the governor ordered that his businesses be shut down.
Attack on his business
Mr Iwuoha is a petroleum product dealer. He sells kerosene and engine oil and he has several outlets in Owerri and its environs.
"As a way to melt down my opinion and force me to recoil in my cocoon, he instructed his special assistant on environment, Willie Amadi, to destroy my businesses," the man said.
The attack on his means of livelihood, rather than shut Mr Iwuoha up, instead fired him up. "But he was shocked. Rather than subdue me I came out boldly to challenge him".
Mr Iwuoha wrote several petitions to security and anti-graft agencies which did not elicit any meaningful response. Matters came to a head after Mr Iwuoha wrote a petition to the state house of assembly demanding that the legislators constitute a probe panel to look into the alleged widespread mismanagement and misappropriation of public fund of the Ohakim administration.
At this juncture, the governor allegedly decided he had had enough. Mr Iwuoha's "excesses" had become personal and needed to be dealt with personally.
The abduction and beating
"It was like a mafioso movie", said Mr Iwuoha while recounting the way the governor's security detail abducted him from his house and presented him to their ‘godfather'.
"The governor sent five armed men to my house at Plot 98, Ikenegbu Extension, Owerri. Four of them were wearing mufti; only one was wearing a bulletproof vest. They knocked at my gate and told me that the then-commissioner of police, Aloysius Okorie, was looking for me. I told them it wasn't true because two days earlier I had a conversation with the commissioner where I agree to see him in two days' time. They pulled their guns on me and ordered me to come out."
But before Mr Iwuoha followed the policemen, he put a call through to the commissioner who, after initially denying that he sent the men, reluctantly told Mr Iwuoha to follow them. But before he did, he told Mr Okorie that he had called his folks and told them that if anything happens to him, the police commissioner should be held responsible.
At this point, Mr Iwuoha had no inkling of what awaited him until he stepped out of his house and discovered that the SUV had a government house number plate. He protested, but he was ordered to get into the vehicle.
At the government house, after more than two hours of being held hostage in the SUV, he was driven to the governor's office.
"As I was led into the governor's office by the chief security officer, the governor shouted, ‘Lock the door, lock the door,' and the door was shut. The chief security officer pointed a gun to my head and the governor ordered me to pull off my clothes," he said.
Mr Iwuoha said he was too shocked to think. While he hesitated, he said governor walked to him and with the help of one of his goons, identified as Kenneth, personally tore off all items of clothing on him. He was completely naked.
"The governor head-butted me, punched me in the face and kicked me before returning to his table to grab a horsewhip," recalled Mr Iwuoha. "He ordered me to lie on the rug and he flogged me ruthless. It is natural, when the pains became unbearable, I cried for mercy.
"While he was at it, his younger brother, Emmanuel Ohakim, who doubles as his chief of staff rushed in and shouted, ‘His excellency, his excellency!' The governor looked up and said, ‘Emma, this is Ikenna Samuelson. I will kill him today.'"
Luckily for Mr Iwuoha, the governor's brother wasn't happy about what was going on. He sighed and walked out of the office. His brother's reaction calmed the governor little. Mr Iwuoha quickly saw an opening to save his head.
"Then I told him that what he was doing was abnormal, that he was desecrating the office of the governor; besides, I also reminded him that my wife is from his town and that according to Igbo culture, he was my children's Nna Ochie (godfather)," the beaten man said.
He said his plea apparently had some effect on Mr Ohakim and he stopped the beating completely.
"He pulled a seat and started shouting: ‘Samuelson, why are you disgracing me in this country? Why are you disgracing the governor of Imo State?'"
Mr Iwuoha said he believed the governor had planned to kill him on that day. He said his saving grace was probably the call he made to the state police commissioner when he was being taken from his home and the reaction of the governor's brother.
Mr Iwuoha has initiated several court cases against the governor which have ended up nowhere, due to the immunity from prosecution the governor enjoys.
Culled from 234next.
