of June, 2013 was a day he
would always remember for
the rest of his life because it
was a day he had a close shave
with death. Today, he is still
battling with the pains of an
acid bath allegedly inflicted on
him by a professional colleague and some hoodlums.
Obinnah who is now in pains narrated his ordeal to
Saturday Vanguard, amid sympathizers who thronged
daily to console him.
The middle aged man said he is an employee of an
advertising firm that is based in Lagos with special
attention on outdoor advertising.
According to him, “I am a marketing officer and North
Central supervisor of ‘Ahaa Media’ and we specialize in
outdoor advertising which include the mounting of
billboards across the country.
”On that fateful day, I travelled to Makurdi to supervise
and monitor our billboards in the town, but to my chagrin,
I saw that one of our authorised billboards located on
Otukpo road, close to Sev-Av Foundation Headquaters
had Hero larger beer illegally advertised on it without
due authorization.
“I made enquiries as to who posted the advertorial to no
avail. I had no option but to climb the board in an attempt
to remove the advertised image.
“While I was doing that, one Chidiebere Okugo who
claimed he is the sales representative of the firm whose
product was advertised on the board, mobilized hoodlums
who assisted him to attack me while I was still hanging on
the billboard.
“They used dangerous weapons including sticks, stones
and what I later realised was a chemical to force me
down, but I refused because the way they confronted
me, I was afraid for my life.
“And in their desperation to get me down from the
billboard, they struck and cut down one of the electric
power lines that was close to the billboard which fell on
me and almost electrocuted me.
“At that point, I fell down and they descended on me, but
I was lucky to have been rescued by a team of Police men
from the command headquaters. It was at the police
station that I noticed that parts of my body were peeling
off.”
He said after making his statement at the station, he was
granted bail and rushed to a hospital in Makurdi for first
aid treatment and afterwards transferred to the
National Hospital Abuja and later to the University of
Abuja Teaching Hospital where he underwent plastic
surgery and is currently battling with pains and life
threatening burns on parts of his body.
Meantime, Saturday Vanguard gathered from the First
Information Report, FIR, filed at the Police station by the
lead accused, Chidiebere Okugo, a sales representative
of the firm whose product was advertised on the
billboard, where he claimed that the advert billboard
belonged to his company.
He also claimed that he noticed the burns on the victims
body when he was taken to the Police station. “It was at
the Police station that I noticed injury on the man’s body.
“I noticed that his leg and other parts of his body were
peeling off and I do not know how to describe it.
“As a sales representative of my company covering
Makurdi only, my work does not cover billboards but to
my knowledge, the billboard in question is our company’s
billboard.
“The branding department of our company told me that
they are the people who mounted the billboard. I will be
surprised to know that my company does not own the
billboard in question.
“I am not aware that the billboard is being claimed by
another company. Though I was aware that the victim was
rushed to the National Hospital Abuja, I did not order
anybody to beat him up”, Okugo said.
Meanwhile, a Makurdi based legal practitioner, Terfa
Akosu has taken up the matter in pursuit of justice for
the victim.
Akosu told Saturday Vanguard in Makurdi that he opted
to take up the matter againt the accused and his firm
because “the treatment meted out to the victim was
dastardly, brutal and beyond comprehension.
“That the young man is still alive today is just by the share
grace of God and we strongly believe that justice would
be done in the matter to serve as deterrent to others ,”
Akosu said.y
No comments:
Post a Comment