The Chief Executive officer of Breathe Restaurant and Lounge Enugu, Mr. Ikechukwu Okeke has alleged that the Chairman of Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), Hon. Uche Anaya has been frustrating investors and shutting down businesses in the state.

Okeke gave an account of  his business concern as a clear case of his allegation, stating that Anya carried over his failed bid to purchase the business premises where he operates, to attack him personally and crumble his over N500 million entertainment investment in the state.

He urged Governor Peter Mbah to intervene in the matter, revealing that he wanted to make his investment in Lagos state, but choose Enugu in the instead because of the call by the Governor, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and people of the south east for Ndigbo to bring back their investments to the south east.

Narrating his ordeal in a press conference, Okeke said: “The Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA) under Ken Onoh gave us approval. Onoh encouraged us and told us it was what Enugu needed at the moment. We paid and approval was given to us and we went ahead to build and we opened for business on July 14 2023. People like here and they come because we don’t play loud music because we’re mature minds.

“One day some people came and said they were friends to the new Capital Territory boss and that he is our neighbour, just behind our property. We went to pay him homage as our neighbor and when we told him we were the ones behind his house, he said are you the ones disturbing me, that we should know that in 1999 he wanted to buy that place but that the family refused to sell to him. I told him that we didn’t buy the property but that we’re on a 20 years lease on the property and he said it was not his problem; that he was just waiting on the neighbours to report to him before he will be able to shut us down, that we should know that the place will not exist.

“So, I said sir, you can’t tell me that the business I came down with from Lagos to invest over N500 million will not work out. He said he has finished what he was saying but that this place will not exist. He said we should take our drink and go and we left. That was on Tuesday and on Saturday early morning, without notice, he came and sealed this property. We had a lot of livestock that died within the 15 days that he sealed it. He made us swear an affidavit that we should not play any music at all.

“One day some people came here and laughed and my phone rang, it his architect who told me that his oga said that those people laughing there should stop laughing. I removed all the speakers close to his fence. Within five days he served us another paper because people were laughing. Two days later he came and sealed it again. He said that even the Governor cannot do anything, that after all he has houses in America, Ikoyi and Enugu, that he is here to help the Governor; that he didn’t ask for this job. I have over 60 workers employed here. One day the SSG called me and said that the neighbours said we were disturbing them but I told him that it was only Uche Anya that was complaining. I know that Peter Mba is an entrepreneur and it’s only someone like Uche Anya who doesn’t have a business sense that can close down a business.

“Uche Anya drove down here one evening and asked me to come. He told me that he knows that I’m not from Enugu state, that I’m from Anambra state and said that I should go and make an arrangement for N25 million for him, that when I make that money available, I will do my business in peace. I told him that I did not have such money and he said he had finished what he wanted to say. I told the SSG that the problem was that I don’t have N25 million to give to Uche Anya who was there with us. Uche said that I rather came to his office to bribe him and he refused.

“Ever since then, some people have been trailing me while driving and I have reported to the DSS that it’s only Uche Anya that I have a problem with. I told the DSS to seal my premises if it finds out that I play loud music or make noise that disrupts the neighborhood. After that the trailing stopped. Then in January I noticed that there were cameras and about five alarms lined up at the edge of Uche Anya’s house facing directly to this lounge. So now, each time he sees that people are here he releases deafening alarms throwing customers out of this place. Right now I pay the medical bills of two children that have been deafened by these alarms. The alarms have damaged the hearing of these two little children that only came here to relax with their parents. The police came here and witnessed the alarm and they were pieced off. He told the police that I should do the right thing.

“I spend N270, 000 on diesel every two days, we pay a lot of bills here, and how does he want us to survive? I know that Governor Peter Mbah is not aware of all these but Uche Anya is one of the people demarketing his administration. Uche Anya is just busy shutting down businesses in Enugu. The SSG told him that he was supposed to encourage us. The Governor leaves close to an outdoor center but he has not shut down that entertainment center. Uche Anya is a threat to Peter Mba’s government. My prayer is for the Governor to intervene on this issue and because I have a lot of positive business ideas I want to put up in Enugu and the Governor has been going out asking for investments into the state. I plead with the Governor to come to my aid and save me from Uche Anya who has crippled my business.”