"Life has been unfair to me". This was the statement that greeted a Vanguard reporter as he approached 19-year-old Chidi Okolie, who is currently going through psychological trauma following an act of gang-rape on him, Monday, in Badagry area of Lagos.
Chidi left his home town in Izzih LGA of Ebonyi state for Lagos, two years ago, in search of greener pasture, following the demise of his parents, which also forced him to drop out of school.
But determined to irk a living, he decided to come to Lagos, where he started hawking along the Mile two- Badagry expressway.
Along the line, he came across a middle-aged man who promised to offer him employment, an offer Chidi saw as a way out of struggle. But he got the shock of his life, on his supposed first day at work, as he was allegedly gang-raped and robbed by his supposed "messiah"
Hear him:
I saw Okafor Emmanuel as my messiah when he promised to secure a job for me. I had barely finished selling on Monday when he called me on phone to come down to Abule-Ado. I bought a sachet of pure water, washed by face and straightened my clothes. I packed the remaining wares into a bag and kept it, hoping to finish them the next day
When I got to the designated place, I met Okafor with four other young men. He told me to accompany them to distribute cigarettes to his customers in Badagry, informing that, that was my first assignment. We did that until 11pm and because it was late, he asked me to pass the night with him.
Gang -raped at midnight
But at midnight, someone tapped me on the thigh and when I opened my eyes, it was Okafor. Lo and behold, he was in his nude! He bent over and said he would want to have carnal knowledge of me. I was shocked and concluded he could be drunk.
I lied to him that I wanted to urinate and left the room. But on getting to the sitting room, I met the other four men stack naked as well. At that point, I concluded the job offer was a mere trick to harm me.
At that point, I decided to run outside. But as I attempted to, they overpowered me and tore my shirts into shreds before pinning me to the ground with each having his way in turns.
As if that was not enough, they pushed me out of the apartment that midnight, boasting that there was nothing I could do. When I checked my pocket, I discovered they had collected the N25,000 I made from my sales.
But I could not go back to my uncle's place that night so as not to be mistaken for a thief. All I did was to collect a shirt I saw on the line and wore. I remained there until 6am before leaving.
Since the incident, he has been begging for forgiveness, attributing it to the handiwork of the devil, without bothering to find out if I was hurt.
As I speak, I am still hurting all over but I cannot go to the hospital because I do not have money to buy drugs. I really do not know how to get money to start business all over again. As it is now, he has rendered me handicapped. You see why I said life has been unfair to me? He asked.
So far, Chidi did not report the incident to the Police as he claimed he was afraid he might not get justice at the end. He also feared that Okafor and his friends might carry out a severe deal against him, if he did.
BLOGGER'S OBSERVATION:
I respect Vanguard Newspaper so much – because it remains one good source of news for my blog. But I was highly disappointed when I saw the picture of the gang-raped victim used above with his face blurred. This picture was that of late 15-year-old Nigerian teenager, Temidayo Ogunneye - a schoolboy who was stabbed to death through the heart in the UK when another teenger (Nathan McLeod) robbed him of his blackberry in May 11, 2011 – Read about it HERE.
Vanguard please you can do better this next time…
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| Late Temidayo Ogunneye |
