It's quite a long, serious story, but a must read to the end. Some
people are just plain wicked, if the allegations in this story are true.
This young couple, Uche & Onyinye Nnaji only sealed their love for
each other at a beautiful, yet compact wedding ceremony in the last
quarter of 2013- Sunday, September 22, 2013 to be more precise. But
since then and after coming back from their honeymoon in Seychelles,
it has not been a bed of roses at all for the couple. It has been one
stress after the other as the days go by and why some people are hell
bent on traumatizing and destroying this young marriage of only 4
months beats our imagination!
What is the genesis of their problem?
Apparently before the couple got married, Uche's then girlfriend now
wife used to work at a company, CMB. The company like everyone
already knows is into real estates/properties, building maintenance
etc and is owned by a very well connected and wealthy man - Mr.
Kelechukwu Mbagwu.
In fact at the couple's wedding reception, Mr. Mbagwu (whose picture
is shown below) had the pride of place as he was very prominent on
the day, reason being that his company and himself ably supported
the ceremony. We even learnt that the couple's trip to Seychelles, the
gorgeous lovers island was a present from CMB to the then just
married couple. The premise then was that, nothing was too big a
present, for a devoted star staff who diligently brought in millions in
profit for her organization while the going was great.
So what could have gone wrong so quickly between the
couple, the company and the MD? That would warrant
Onyinye quitting her beloved job abruptly only 2 days after
she had just returned from her all expenses paid for (by
CMB) honeymoon in Seychelles?
Apparently long before Onyinye got married she had had a very good
and very cordial relationship with her boss, some have even said she
was one of his best staff; unconfirmed reports apparently say bringing
in profit wasn't enough.
But according to the case that has now been filed at the Ikeja High
Court, the genesis of this matter might have begun over a case of
sexual harassment which has now been turned on its face.
Apparently Oga wanted something the lady couldn't give. The lady not
wanting to lose her job while also not wanting her boss to lose face,
decided on a tactical game of hide and seek, thinking that over time
the boss would totally lose interest.
When after the whole nuptial ceremony had been sorted and the
honeymoon was done with and the lady felt now that her new status
(being married) should protect her from untoward demands and
thought to resume work- 2 weeks after, she met a major brick-wall; a
demand for pay back or face the repercussion!
Not wanting to soil her new bed, she apparently did the next best
thing to do - she reported the whole matter to her husband of only a
few weeks. Instead of them suing for sexual harassment, because she
had apparently escaped being molested by whiskers, they then
decided that the best thing to do was to immediately quit the job and
let the matter rest.
Mr. Nnaji then took all the company's properties in their possession
(including his wife's official car) and her resignation letter to CMB the
next day, thinking that was the end of the matter.
Unfortunately, that particular action was misconstrued to be
audacious, impudent and insulting by the MD, and all hell has been
let loose on them ever since.
Mr Mbagwu at the Nnajis' wedding in September 2013, advising the
same couple he is now fighting with all his might
Truth be told, it has not been an easy couple of months for the
couple, there have been threats upon threats from unknown sources,
their once easy going existence has been beleaguered by harassment
and fear. Even men of the Nigerian Police Force, have been used to
harass the couple to no end, even as we speak.
First, a phantom petitioner from Abuja made claims of fraud
against Uche. Men from the fraud unit came calling, so he
had to go report at their office. He and the faceless
petitioner were given dates to appear to come make their
statements. While Uche reported on the given date, the
petitioner has refused to surface till now 8 weeks after the
petition.
The next harassment that came their way, was in the form
of 'threat to the life of Mr. Kelechukwu Mbagwu''. Using his
vast connections, Mr. Mbagwu had apparently petitioned
the police claiming that the young couple had threatened
his life, the evidence of the threat is a message that had
been sent by his former star employee- Onyinye for him to
leave them alone. This message below is the main reason
for their suffering right now:
The exact message sent out is reproduced here - EXHIBIT A:
''Sir will you please leave us alone? This is the second time God
is exposing you in my dream of chasing me and planning to
kidnap me? Friends and family have been warning us of danger,
and today the police invited my husband for a petition from a
faceless person who he knows nothing about. I have cried and
pleaded with my husband not to take this matter to the media.
We don't have the money you have yet but our mothers have
taken you to God in their prayers. Remember what u told me
about dying soon? They have used it as a prayer point except U
amend your ways. I served you for 5yrs brought in hundreds of
millions in sales and still didn't get anything when leaving yet
you won't let us rest...stop appearing in my dreams pls''.
The text above is the exact message that was sent to Mr. Mbagwu,
which is now been used as evidence of threat on his life. But the
same Mr. Mbagwu, who we heard had threatened to deal with that
'tailor husband' of his former employee with all at his disposal, is
walking around without any stress whatsoever.
On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, policemen from the
'special anti-robbery squad' (SARS) arrested the pregnant
Onyinye. R eason(s) for the arrest - she constitutes a threat
to the life of her former boss. She and her husband had
been in hiding for the better part of 3 plus weeks now
because of the many threats they have been receiving. She
was lured out from their hiding place, via a phone call from
her pastor who she has been praying with on the same
issues, on getting to the pastor's place she was
immediately arrested.
Prior to this arrest, Uche's store popular known as Ouch!
had been invaded severally by gun-totting policemen on the
pretext of looking for the award winning clothier, these men
also harassed without provocation an innocent staff of the
company at gun point, who couldn't give the whereabouts
of her boss to the fiery policemen.
Just yesterday, Thursday, January 30, 2014 at a magistrate
court in Ikeja, the highly traumatized Onyinye was charged
for an amended charge of threat to life and intent to extort
(demand for an SUV).
The amended charge reads as follows:
Count 1- That you Onyinye Onwamaka Anthonia Nnaji 'f' and
others at large on the 25th day of November 2013, at about
1830 hours at Ikoyi Lagos in Lagos Magisterial district with
intent to extort or gain something from Kelechukwu Mbagwu 'm'
and knowing the contents of writing, caused him to receive
written text message from your mobile phone number-
23480935505937, demanding SUV vehicle from him without
reasonable or probable cause and the text message containing
threat of injury or detriment of any kind to be caused on him if
your demand is not complied with and thereby committed an
offence punishable under section 300 of the Criminal law of
Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.
Count 2 - That you Onyinye Onwamaka Anthonia Nnaji 'f' on the
same date, time and place in the aforesaid Magisterial district
with intent to extort or gain SUV car from one Kelechukwu
Mbagwu 'm' did accuse him of committing felony to wit:
attempted rape and thereby committed an offence contrary to
section 301(1)(a) and punishable under section 301(2)(i) of the
criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.
For one to fully appreciate the ambiguity in the charges, one needs to
read all over again the full text of message that Onyinye had sent to
her boss above marked exhibit A. The sad aspect of the whole matter
is that a case had already been filed for hearing long before the
hurried one at the magistrate court, at a high court in Lagos today,
Friday, January 31, 2014. So why the hurry? What is going on?
After the court case on Thursday, she was remanded in custody till
she would make her bail condition, which was set at N100,000 and
the provision of 2 sureties that have paid their taxes consistently for
the last 3 years. She's even still in custody as this story is going on
air.
Trying to get across to her husband's phones is a problem, as they
have been switched off for fear that they would be traced and he
would be arrested and molested, and just anything could happen to
him.
With the direction that this unnecessary scandal has taken,
we would love to ask several questions
1. Is there more to this issue than we are being made to
believe?
2. Even if there was something between the lady and her
boss before she got married, why is that now that she's
made up her mind not to continue, she and her husband
can't be allowed to live in peace?
3. Why use the apparatus of the state (police) to threaten,
embarrass, scare, intimidate, another citizen of the state
like yourself?
4. Is it true that because of this scandal, not less than 5
female staff members of the company have had to resign?
5. How come that the very distinguished & hardworking
Commissioner for Police in Lagos is involved one way or
the other in this case, especially why the need to go that
high over a minor issue that should have been reported and
handled at a police station?
6. Why involve the SARS & SIB ?
7. Where did the case of the faceless fraud petitioner come
from and who is this phantom petitioner? 8. Is this a
classic case of the scorned, doing all that is possible to get
his pound of flesh? Lastly! What is going on to warrant all
of this?
Another sad aspect of the whole situation is that Uche Nnaji's
business has been severely affected and his finances dealt with as he
has not gone near any of his branches since the beginning of the new
year.
Uche Nnaji is a very well known young man, who is extremely
hardworking and an award winning individual who in under a decade
has done fantastically well for himself. He started selling clothes while
still an undergraduate at the University of Lagos, from his meager
savings he was able transform from just buying and selling to owning
and selling his own brands of clothing items known to all as Ouch!.
In the last few years, he has opened not less than 4 branches in
Lagos. He was chosen (the only one at that) to represent Nigeria at
the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in August of 2012. He has
also won several awards one of which is the BusinessDay 40 under 40
CEOs, this is are those young ones who over the course of the years
have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields. He was also one
out of the 100 Guardians of the Future honored at the tail end of last
year by Mr. President, Dr Goodluck Azikwe Ebele Jonathan, GCFR.
Until all the recent troubles of the past few months, he has always
being known to mind his own business.
