By Gele Agbai
A Nollywood star actor, Tom Njemanze is seething with rage over the ill-treatment meted out to him by an aide of Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.
He therefore insisted that the governor’s aide must pay him N10million as damages for peace to reign.
Mr Njemanze in an interview in Owerri on Monday narrated a heart-rending story of how Mr. Cletus Amaraegbu tricked him to Ghana, humiliated and dumped him there.
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Njemanze disclosed that he and Amaraegbu, an engineer and Special Adviser (SA) to the governor on Igbo Affairs brokered a partnership which went sour from the first assignment.
According to him, the first assignment was to serve as a master of ceremony at Igbo Day Cultural Carnival held on September 15, 2012 at Accra Trade Fair Complex.
Njemanze said a fee was agreed upon to be paid to him, adding that the first indication that things might not work out well manifested when he went to the office of the SA to collect part-payment to enable him leave some pocket money for his family before heading to Ghana only to be told that the governor’s aide had left for Ghana earlier than agreed.
Notwithstanding that, the actor disclosed, that he joined others in a convoy of six vehicles to Lagos.
On reaching Lagos, he said, he met another challenge. ‘There was no proper accommodation for me to pass the night before heading to Ghana the next day. I was directed to check into a short-time joint and when I protested, the SA’s secretary, Chidi Nwoke said there was nothing else he could do in the circumstance’.
Njemanze who has starred in more than 50 Nollywood movies said he had to sleep in the bus till the next day for the journey to Ghana.
He told Nigeria Newspoint that what he encountered in Lagos was a child’s play compared to the accommodation crisis he faced in Ghana.
The actor disclosed that he and others were checked into a school dormitory which has six-spring bed and mattress.
He again protested but his protest fell on deaf ears of the governor’s aide and his secretary.
According to him, he had to leave the dormitory and headed straight to the event venue. After the carnival and the dinner party for the Ezeigbo Ghana, Eze Chukwudi Ihenetu at Golden Tulip, the actor said he had hang around at the hotel since there was no accommodation for him to pass the night.
But help came his way when a relation of the Ezeigbo Ghana saw him and brought the matter to the royal father’s attention.
It was the traditional ruler, he said, who paid for his accommodation in a different hotel to pass the night.
Njemanze added that he encountered another problem when the taxi-cab driver that was to convey him to the bus terminal could not locate it resulting in other members of the delegation leaving him in Ghana.
The taxi-cab driver, he said, had to bring him back to the hotel, adding that this time he had no money on him to take care of himself or pay for extra day at the hotel.
He said he had to put a call through to one of the organizers of the event in Ghana who got in touch with Eze Ihenetu who he said frowned at the ill-treatment meted out to him.
Finally, he disclosed, that a good Nigerian bought him an ABC Transport ticket. With the ticket, he returned to Lagos and was helped by an Owerri indigene who raised transport fare for him to return to Owerri.
All efforts made to get Mr. Amaraegbu to comment on the matter proved abortive. An SMS was earlier sent to him which he didn’t reply as at press time while he could only pick the first of the numerous calls put across to him.
He however switched off after the reporter had introduced himself and mission.
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credit, www.nigerianewspoint.com
