The victim
Adumekwe was allegedly tied to the stake like a barbecue ram and fire set under him. The policemen who tortured him also threatened to roast him to death, if he did not produce a Nigerian, who was declared wanted by the police.
According to the victim, his sin was that, as the President of an Igbo cultural association, which united all Igbo from Osu Local Government Area of Imo State, living in Gabon, Osu Progressive Union, he was supposed to know the whereabouts of his wanted member. He narrated how the wanted member (names withheld) allegedly burgled Gabon Immigration’s office, with members of his gang and was declared wanted by the police.
Police in Gabon still insist that as the president of the association, Adumekwe knew the suspect’s whereabouts.
He explained how he was in his house, planning the day’s business with his wife when he heard a bang on his door. According to him, as he opened it, he was confronted by a team of policemen.
The victim, who did not suspect anything wrong, as he did not commit any crime, volunteered to follow the policemen to their office. At the police station, he said he saw the wife of the suspect, adding that it was the police that showed him the woman, asked if he knew her and he answered yes.
He said immediately he admitted knowing the woman and her husband, the police warned that if he wanted to be alive, he should produce the suspect.
According to him, his problem was compounded when he told the police that he did not know his whereabouts. “They tied my legs and hands, hanged me on a stake and made me to face the sky, while they made fire under me with newspapers. They kept adding more newspapers and the fire was on for several
hours till my body started peeling off.
He said while the policemen continued the torture, a man came and ordered them to stop, as the plan was not to kill him. “He ordered them to stop torturing me. So, they took me to the hospital,” he said.
He explained that while in hospital, a senior police officer promised to pay the hospital bill and threatened to kill him, if he revealed what transpired between him and the security agents, to the Nigerian embassy.
Adumekwe said since he had no means of contacting the embassy, since his wife and children were also locked up in the police cell, he promised to maintain sealed lips. The police officer, identified as Benjamin Ikunna, had appealed to him that if the Nigerian embassy knew about the torture, he would be demoted. But few days later, Ikunna swallowed his words and indicated his intention to stop paying the hospital bill. “When I protested, he threatened to kill me. So, fearing that I might be killed, I contacted the embassy,” he said.
And when the embassy interviewed him, some policemen allegedly made attempts to kill him to close the case. “I was abducted but through divine intervention, I was released, though, I was warned not to continue the case.” Another day, he was allegedly abducted and forced to sign a statement written in French or risked being killed. “So, I signed the paper. I did not understand the contents. From that moment, they ransacked my room, collected my international passport which expired since 2001.”
He told Daily Sun he was shocked when the police took him to the Immigration office and stamped a visa on expired passport. “From there, I was deported to Nigeria.”
He reported the matter to a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Access to Justice, in Nigeria, which took over the matter. “They gave me N150, 000, which I used in purchasing a tricycle (Keke Marwa), that I was using. I was able to raise some money from the business to purchase a bus.
“I can only drive early in the morning evening hours, because in the afternoon, I start feeling burning sensation in the burnt part of my body.”
He has, however, appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan, to intervene to ensure that Gabon authorities compensate him, by carrying out plastic surgery on him and giving him financial compensation. “My business has folded up in Gabon, I need money for plastic surgery.”
He said if the Nigerian government fails to act, other Nigerians in Diaspora would suffer the same fate. “Nigerians are being intimidated outside the country, but we are hospitable to foreigners living in our country,” he said.
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