THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013
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CITYBEATS Deportee attacked by robbers, 'rejected' by employer
CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999
•We're not liable, says company
H
IS world came crashing like a pack of cards. He was ambitious, but everything ended when he lost his arm while fighting off robbers trying to snatch his employer’s money. Tajudeen Komolafe was a salesman with a tobacco marketing firm, Intermarket Distribution Company Limited, when fate dealt him a cruel blow on July 20, 2005. His left hand can no longer yield to his command. He tried a few exercises by lifting the hand, but it remained numb. After a few more trials yesterday, he got frustrated. "This is useless," he sighed, adding pitiably: "I can't use this hand anymore." In 1998, in his search for greener pastures, he left for Libya, through the Sahara Desert. "Many people died on the way but I was one of the few who made it to Libya," he said. Following a revolt in 2000, he was deported and for the next one year, he was in small-scale business. Luck smiled on him in 2002 when Intermarket hired him as a motorcycle sales representative. His work involved selling the products of British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), the largest tobacco company, in the country. "I started out on a N5,000 monthly salary and by 2005, I was earning N14,500. I was diligent and even got some awards. I had plans to resign at the end of July, 2005, but I had an accident on July 20, which changed that entire plan," he said. According to Komolafe, he was returning from his sales round when he was accosted by two men on a bike, who demanded that he surrendered the sales proceeds. He refused and in the ensuing struggle, he was injured; his left hand got broken. A Good Samaritan took him to Mount Sinai Hospital being used by Intermarket where doctors said he suffered severe fracture. His hand had lost its vital vein and was to be amputated. When asked why he didn't just surrender the money and bike to the robbers instead of endangering his life, he replied: "Intermarket is very strict; they don't joke with their money. They might say I colluded with the
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‘I cannot afford the bills for their (his children’s) school uniforms and other things; so, they have been at home for two terms now ... even my wife is tired. We have eaten into her petty sales and if the situation continues, she will have nothing to sell. I am desperate to have this hand operated on’
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By Seun Akioye
robbers; so I decided to fight for the money - N168, 000." He refused to have his hand amputated, preferring to undergo the slow but painful treatment. That treatment lasted two years and when he returned in 2008, he could not resume as a sales representative because his left hand was already paralysed. "I told the company that I could not work and that I should be given N1 million as compensation to travel abroad to treat the hand. They refused and told me that even those who died did not get that much. Thereafter, they promised to take care of my hand and I was reassigned as cashier," Komolafe said. A January 15, 2008 letter of promotion indicated that his salary had also been increased to N15,500 per month. But Komolafe alleged that others were earning much more and when he asked why he earned less, he said was told the balance would go into paying for his medical expenses. Trouble started, however, in Sep-
•Komolafe
tember last year when he resigned and demanded his medical funds which was refused. Instead, a 10month salary was paid him as gratuity. Shocked at the turn of events, he went to the Lagos State Public Advice Centre (PAC), which wrote to Intermarket on October 3, last year. However, the issues got more curious when Intermarket replied the letter on November 1, last year. In a letter entitled: 'Re: Compensation for Tajudeen Komolafe,' the tobacco marketers averred: "With respect to Paragraph 2 of your letter under reference, we vehemently deny that whilst in our employment, Mr.
Komolafe suffered any permanent/ total injury or disability whether to his left hand or any part of his body." The company said the provisions of the Employee Compensation Act of 2010 would not be applicable in his case as the event happened five years before the law came into operation. "In any event, we deny we are liable to pay Mr. Komolafe any compensation because he did not suffer any permanent/total injury of disability to his left hand as you have alleged and he voluntarily absolved the company from all responsibility when he tendered his resignation and same was accepted." Enraged by the firm’s position, Komolafe got a doctor's report from Mount Sinai Hospital which proved that Intermarket had been economical with the truth. On January 15, PAC transferred the case to the Directorate for Citizens Rights which has contacted the company on February 11. "Since then, I have not heard from Intermarket. My situation is getting desperate. I have missed lots of job opportunities because of this handicap. I trained as a plumber but I cannot work in that line again," Komolafe said. With the burden of caring for six children, Komolafe is at his wits end. "I am frustrated because of this hand. I hide it everywhere because it is very embarrassing. Every day I suffer acute
body pains because I have to concentrate all work on the right hand which is very strenuous." But that is the least of his troubles. Last month, his landlord reportedly gave him some beating because he failed to pay up his rent. Four of his children were withdrawn from private schools and taken to government-owned schools. "Even at that, I cannot afford the bills for their school uniforms and other things; so, they have been at home for two terms now," he said, adding: "Even my wife is tired. We have eaten into her petty sales and if the situation continues, she will have nothing to sell. I am desperate to have this hand operated on. There is a hospital in Germany that can fix it and that is why I am appealing for compensation from the company I served and in whose employment I became disabled." Contacted the Regional Human Relations Manager of Intermarket Tina Nwosu, said: "Please call me back; I can direct you to the Legal Services Department." After repeated calls, she promised to talk later. One of the Komolafe's children Olamilekan, a seven-year-old Primary Three pupil, stood at a corner of his mother’s shop at Oyingbo, Lagos Mainland, yesterday, dressed in his underpants. "We usually lock ourselves inside the house when other children go to school. I would always ask my father when we would resume school because every day I get ashamed."
Three die in Ogun road crashes
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•Some women at Saints Joachim and Anne Catholic Church, Ijegun, Lagos, celebrating Mothers Day yesterday
HREE persons were yesterday killed in two separate auto crashes on AbeokutaSagamu and Papalantoro-Ilaro Roads in Ogun State. Confirming the incidents, the Itori Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Fatai Bakare, said both accidents happened early yesterday. He said: "Two persons died on Papalantoro-Ilaro Road when a Nissan car marked LND 121 BH lost control and rammed into a
commercial motorbike, killing the rider and his passenger. "But only one person died in the Abeokuta-Sagamu accident when two articulated vehicles marked XU 320 LND and LAGOS 777 FST had a headon collision around Lafarge Cement Company on the Expressway. All the victims were males and their bodies have been deposited at Ifo General Hospital. Four persons sustained different degrees of injuries in both accidents, including the driver of the car. They have been taken to a hospital for treatment."