LIVING on foreign soil and still managing to send money home for building and other projects, many Nigerians abroad have, as they say, been through hell, and then some. They toil day and night, hoping to return home and into some reasonable degree of comfort some day. Often, however, it seems that these set of Nigerians face difficulties in their dealings with their family members or friends in Nigeria to whom they entrust such projects. The story of one of such citizens, a South Africa-based businessman who reportedly returned to Nigeria after 23 years to claim the property he had been sending money home for but met a hostile reception, trended on social media recently. According to the man, who introduced himself as Bayo Salami, his family members took him to the premises of an Islamic cleric (Alfa), where he was held against his will and labeled a lunatic. In a video recording, Salami, who stated that he is based in Cape Town, South Africa, and owns a business called Kuvuki Empire, claimed to be a top show promoter in South Africa who had, at various times, organised major events for popular Nigerian artistes such as Davido, Wizkid, M.I, and Banky W.
To back up his claims, he stated that people could find him on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube under his company name. According to Salami, on his arrival in Nigeria, he asked his family members about his properties but they claimed that the properties were still under development, whereupon he chose to return to South Africa instead of arguing with them. However, his family insisted on taking him to an Alfa for prayers, saying it would bring him God’s blessings. Trusting them, he said, he agreed to the arrangement, but was locked up in a room that the cleric had asked him to enter into for a prayer session.
Salami added that he found certain other individuals who had been held in the same spot for over a year in terrible living conditions, adding that he was kept there against his will for 17 days. When asked how he survived, he explained that his family occasionally brought him food, sometimes twice a day. On his family members’ excuse for taking him to the so-called cleric, Salami said they claimed it was because he smoked cigarettes. He said: “I saw some people who had been there (the confinement room) for like six months to one year. Their living conditions were very terrible. The people there had been there for like eight months. In there, there was hierarchy. Sometimes when I was brought food, they (the leaders in the room) collected it from my hand. When my sister brought a mat for me, they collected it, saying I had to give it to the Number One (leader) of the house. I obliged because I didn’t want anything to touch my body. If they gave me money, the Number One must collect it because you couldn’t say anything to them. I have been to Dubai, where they don’t drink alcohol but smoke cigarettes. Nowhere in the Quran or Bible is smoking cigarettes forbidden. I am not a drunk.”
Read Also: Fubara’s CoS slams N2bn libel suit on ex-HoS, Nwaeke
If only because of the alleged harrowing experiences of Nigerians based in foreign countries who claimed to have been short-changed by their family members in Nigeria, this story deserves to be looked into. While it is clear that certain necessary details, including the names and location of Salami’s alleged abductors, are not in the public domain, there is no doubt that the allegations he has made deserve to be looked into by the security agencies. No one should be held against their will and where such an infraction has occurred, it must be investigated thoroughly and the suspects treated in accordance with the laws of the land. If the family of the alleged victim in this case indeed felt that he had mental challenges, the proper and commonsensical course of action would have been to take him to a proper hospital, not a so-called faith healer who allegedly subjected him to illegal confinement. There is, of course, the central and key question of the properties for which the man allegedly sent money home over the course of many years. Where are those properties? Or is it that they were never acquired in the first place, which would mean that Salami had been the victim of a fraudulent scheme by his family members? Surely, even if it turns out that Salami has mental difficulties, the properties in question cannot be said to be mentally challenged. So where are they?
Reading stories like Salami’s sends a terrible signal to the outside world about Nigeria and Nigerians. There is simply no logic or justice in cheating a relative out of their hard-earned resources and then claiming that they are suffering from mental challenges when they demand for such properties. Over the years, many Nigerians living abroad have complained of being scammed by family members or other people they sent money to for housing and other projects. We frown on such alleged acts of fraud and encourage the victims to seek redress in the court of law. Criminal betrayal of trust should not be tolerated under any guise. It is a terrible act that undermines social cohesion and is deleterious to societal development.
