Until his name appeared among the list of FBI suspects recently, he was alleged to be a philanthropist in his native home of Ukpor in Anambra state. Investigation however reveals the contrary. OKECHUKWU Onuegbu took time to investigate his background in this report.
In 2016 when the name, Obinwanne Okeke featured on Forbes Magazine as one of the ‘Under 30 Entrepreneurs to Watch’, there was wild celebration all over the cyber wave.
Stakeholders all over the world especially Africans were happy that there still exists hope in Africa especially among Nigerians. Born on November 9, 1987, Okeke is the founder of Invictus Group of Companies Limited, of which checks on the Corporate Affairs Commission’s website shows it was registered on February 22, 2016 with an Abuja address.
Popularly known as Invictus Obi, the young Okeke is the 17th child from a polygamous father, the late Hon. Ossy Sam Okeke, a legislator at both old and new Anambra state, who reportedly died when the young Okeke was only 16 years. Available information also indicates that his company is a conglomerate of other businesses including sourcing, structuring, implementing and monitoring various private equity investments in African and Australian markets.
There were also reports of him being a philanthropist who has invested and encouraged others to invest on the less- privileged and uneducated across the world, including distributing books across the world through the ‘Literacy Africa’ project.
Journey to his country home
Following his arrest on August 16, 2019, over alleged fraud running into $11m, Blueprint travelled to his home town of Ukpor in Nnewi South local government area of Anambra state to see if Okeke’s impact is felt at home because charity, they say, begins at home.
On getting there, it was, however, discovered that the philanthropist was not known at home. First, a woman who sells bean cake popularly called akara by the road side in the town said she knew him when he was a ‘child’ as Nnamdi Okeke. She then directed this reporter to Afor market for further inquiries about him.
According to her, “We have so many Okeke here that I don’t know if he is the one you’re searching for his house. The one I know lives in America. He has no house in this town except the one built by his father. I have not seen him for a very long time. He has no scholarship scheme, no foundation or people I can tell you that he did not impact their lives in any way.”
Traditional ruler disowns report
When the traditional ruler of Ukpor, His Royal Highness, Igwe Felix Chinedu Nwosu Onyimadu, the Nwajiaku IV of Ukpor, was visited, he equally said he had never heard the name until the news of his arrest broke out.
“I am supposed to know him, but I do not. I doubt if anyone really knows him here, but from my enquiries when the news of his arrest came to my knowledge, he is the son of Hon Ossy Sam Okeke. Hon. Okeke was a former House of Assembly member who represented Nnewi South at the Anambra State House of Assembly both in the old and new Anambra state.
“From my enquiries, his father had four wives and he is from the last wife. I know two of his brothers, Emeka and Nelson. You can ask of them. They reside in this town. Whoever told you that he has been engaging in philanthropy or has been donating books here did not tell you the truth. He may have been doing that all across Africa as we read but not here in Ukpor,” the monarch stated.
He, however, directed Blueprint to Mr Okeke’s father’s house at a village called Nzagha, saying, “I can direct you to go there and you will see that he has not also impacted on his own people because you will not see any new structure there; not to talk of having children under scholarship.
“I urge people not to use this young man as a yardstick to judge an average Ukpor youth, because our people are predominantly farmers and are known for hard work. If anything, I would say he may have picked up that habit in the white man’s land where he lives because he does not represent what our youths stand for.”
The journey to Okeke’s family was tortuous. The first commercial motorcyclist contracted to take Blueprint to Hon Okeke’s house. “I don’t know the place. You can climb the bike if you can locate the place,” he said. He was also ignorant of the name, Obinwanne or Nnamdi Okeke even though he claimed to be an indigene of Ukpor.
Even the second and the third commercial motorcyclists met acknowledged knowing the route to Hon Okeke’s house, but said they know nothing about Obinwanne Okeke.
Similarly, the road to his village, Nzagha, Ukpor is not only in complete shape but is such that causes ones to disembark from the commercial motorcycle in order to trek through for 15 minutes while the cyclist navigate his way to a better portion and wait for continued journey.
In Hon Okeke’s perimeter fenced compound are two different one-storey buildings whose appearances indicate they had neither been painted nor renovated since they were built. A woman met in the family house, who claimed to be the wife to one of the late lawmaker’s children, said that Obinwanne lives and operates from Abuja. She equally admitted ignorance of any philanthropist works of her brother-in-law.
Town union president also denied report
When contacted on phone to state whether the man impacted lives in the community as a philanthropist, the president general, Ukpor Improvement Union, Chief Emmanuel Nwachukwu, was a bit hostile to this reporter and asked to know why the sudden interest in Obinwanne. “Is it because it was reported that he is currently been investigated, has he been indicted?”
Nwachukwu wondered why no journalist contacted him when Obinwanne was recognised by Forbes Magazine. “How is that your problem as a journalist? First, there is a problem in the way you people report news. He was first brought to limelight by Forbes. None called me. He was just investigated and not indicted. You suddenly picked interest to call.
“You told me you came to my community and people said they don’t know him. That is because he is based in the US. They know his brothers; but not him directly. It could be possible that he is into philanthropy; your source told you through his brothers but I am not aware. Why am I getting a call now, why not when he was on the news for good reason?” he asked.
