Chinese expatriate, soldiers who brutalized me for false allegations of theft should be prosecuted Ogun mechanic

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Posted on October 17, 2021

Ogun-based 50-year-old mechanic Oluwajimi Ogungbona, who was allegedly tortured by two soldiers at the behest of a Chinese expatriate, tells GODFREY GEORGE about his quest for justice

What is your name?

My name is Oluwajimi Ogungbona. I am 50 years old. I am an auto mechanic specializing in wheel alignment and balancing and am based in Ogun State.

In an online video, you said you were beaten by soldiers working for a Chinese expatriate. What led to this?

On September 27, 2021, around 7:00 p.m., I got a call from Pastor Jacob Jide, who was my client. I had been working on his car for many years. He told me that a Chinese expat, whom he introduced to me, wanted to see me at his residence at the National Theater Estate, Omu-Arogun, Mowe, off Ofada Road, Ogun State. . I was surprised at first and told him it was too late to go see someone, but he insisted that maybe it was important that I go. Pastor Jide is also the owner of the Chinese expat and they stay close to each other on the estate. So I decided to go see the Chinese to maintain a relationship with Jide for whom I had worked for years. I went there with my 18 year old son.

Why did you have doubts at the beginning to go and meet the Chinese? Did you suspect that something was wrong?

Well, I had worked for Jide. Before now, sometimes he would ask me to come to his house at night to check the car and find out what was wrong. Then in the morning I was going to work on it, so it wasn’t really anything new. I was just afraid he wasn’t the one I was going to see but Chinese. It was new. I had also worked for the Chinese for over four months before the incident.

What happened when you got there?

I would like to add that before, two months before the Chinese brought me a car to work. I changed all the brake pads and did the wheel alignment and balancing and returned the vehicle to him. It was in good condition. After three weeks, I got a call from him asking me what I had done to his car. I explained it to him over the phone and also physically went to talk to him. He told me to leave his presence. I couldn’t say what he was talking about. When leaving, his caretaker called me and told me that his boss told him that I had removed the catalyst from the car. I felt insulted. What am I going to do with the car’s catalytic converter? I just do the alignment and balancing of the wheels. I had to go meet Jide to tell him what I was told and he told me not to pay attention to all these rumors because he trusts me and knows that I can’t do anything like that. I am not a panel beater. We have closed this chapter. After this episode, the Chinese called me again and gave me another vehicle to repair, which I did and returned to him. There was no complaint at all for that one. So, going to meet him that day, I didn’t suspect a thing.

I am truly grateful to have gone to his place with my 18 year old son. Normally if I do this kind of work I tell my son to drive me there and wait in the car but that day I don’t know why I told him to join me inside to meet the Chinese. When I entered the compound, the man called me near him. He was smoking. He asked me the same question he had asked me months before. What have you done to my Highlander? I was shocked. I told him the same thing I told him I had worked on the brakes and that was all there was to it. Then he suddenly kicked me on my private parts. I fell to the ground and started to roll, struggling with the pain. I picked up my phone and called Jide to come immediately to the Chinese, that wasn’t why he was calling me that I was seeing. I was crying for help. Before five minutes, the owner came to see me. Jide sat down and told the Chinese man that he had known him for over 10 years and that I couldn’t do what they accused me of. But three soldiers, who were guarding the Chinese, said we wanted to use the man’s head because he was a foreigner. I told them it wasn’t true. Immediately I said that the soldiers launched an attack on me, hit me while I was lying on the ground. I was stripped and my arms and legs were tied. The Nigerian soldiers did all of this to me, a citizen, not a slave. Three of them beat me mercilessly like I was an animal, a criminal, even after all my explanations.

Where was Pastor Jide when this all happened?

He was in the compound begging them not to kill me. My son who came with me called some friends to accompany the police to the scene. I wanted to pass out. They damaged my eyes. I can’t see right now without glasses. Without my son’s intervention, they would have killed me there. Nothing would have saved me, because it was four people against me. I was tortured for over two hours, and the Chinese man came out with a mixture and rubbed it all over my body. I later found out it was pepper with salt. I almost died. I have never seen anyone in my life as cruel and heartless as this Chinese. He rubbed it in my eyes and damaged it. As I was writhing in pain, they took me to the garden and threw me there to die. When the police arrived with the boys and knocked, the soldiers said: Shoot whoever opens this door! I had resigned that I was going to die. The policeman was shouting in a frail voice, I’m a policeman! I am a policeman! The soldiers rushed to where they tied me and untied the ropes and told me to go, that I had been forgiven by the Chinese. I went out and saw everyone. The policeman calmed the boys so they wouldn’t fight and took me to the hospital.

Who paid the hospital bill?

I paid the hospital bill. If I hadn’t been rushed to hospital that night, I would have lost my life. The Chinese man and the soldiers didn’t care. I processed all the invoices. Mowe Police Station invited them all to the station for a roundtable discussion and see if the matter can be settled out of court because the owner was begging me not to take the matter to court.

What is the extent of the injuries you sustained?

This morning (October 8, 2021), I was losing blood. I can’t drive. I can’t see without glasses. I bought the glasses for 150,000 N. They made me useless. That day I had N82,000 with me, but since they stripped me of my clothes, I don’t know how the money went. It was for my business. My driver’s license and all the other identity cards that I had also disappeared. I had ordered goods because I also sell tires and car batteries, but I couldn’t pay. I had to borrow money to pay the bill. I closed my store because I am not physically fit to work as usual.

How are the police handling the case?

The case was transferred to the Eleweran Criminal Investigation Department. They locked up the Chinese.

What about the soldiers?

They refused to come forward. They were not arrested. But I know them. Its name is Ogunrinde Olushola. If they parade them, I can identify them. I call on the federal government, the governor of the states of Ogun and Lagos to come and help me get justice. I am no one ; I am poor, I know. But I am a human being, a citizen, not a slave. The way I see this matter, they are trying to sweep it under the rug for reasons that I can’t say at the moment. I’m not even strong enough yet to be able to pursue this matter.

Have you completed your hospital treatment?

I just left the hospital yesterday (October 14, 2021). I haven’t been myself since after the beating. I have had diarrhea from the blood for over a week now. The doctors tried to stabilize me so that my condition did not get out of hand.

What do you want us to do in this case?

They damaged my life. I can’t lie to you. With the beatings I received, I lost 20 years of my age. If you see my photos, you would think I killed someone and got caught. The government must help me in this matter. I need justice. Why would a Chinese do that to a citizen like that? I can no longer work. I am now begging to eat to survive with my children. I met my lawyers, because I would love to sue. Chinese Jeff was released on bail. While I am watching this case, they are trying to sweep it under the rug because I have no one upstairs to help me pursue justice. However, the IPO called me four days ago to tell me that the Deputy Commissioner of Police said the case should go to court. This is exactly what I want. Let’s go to court, so that the Chinese explain to the magistrate why he had to inflict so much harm on me to do nothing to him.

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