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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