For Monday Obinnah, the 15th 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.
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