A Lagos based welder and metal fabricator collapsed and was rushed to the hospital shortly after he was brutalised by soldiers at the instance of an Ogun factory owner who allegedly defaulted payment for welding work executed at the factory and seized the artisan?s tools box and welding equipment, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

Lukmon Bisiriyu?s body ached with wounds on his reclining bed at a hospital, in the Ojokoro area of Lagos State penultimate Saturday. Too weak to speak, his mother became his spokesperson, sharing an ugly encounter he had with some soldiers who allegedly manhandled him at the instance of a factory owner for whom he was contracted to install some machines at a factory in Mowe area of neighbouring Ogun State.

Narrating the circumstances that culminated in the ugly fate that befell Lukmon, his distraught mother said: ?My son was invited by a factory owner to work somewhere in Mowe area of Ogun State.

?He went back to the factory to pick the tools he left behind only for the company owner to invite soldiers to beat him up simply because my son demanded full payment of his fees.

?After subjecting him to cruel flogging for several hours, he slumped and we had to rush him to this hospital.

?I thank God that he is recovering, but I am crying out for justice over the cruelty that was meted out to my son by the man that hired him to do a job for him.?

Sharing his plight and the events that led to his plight in barely audible tone, Lukmon, a welder cum metal fabricator, said he was contracted by the owner of Rev Food and Beverages Limited at Kajola Street near Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Mowe, Ogun State, Mr. Terrence Erhunmwunnsee, a few weeks ago.

The 37-year-old artisan explained that he struck a bargain of N600,000 fees for his services with the company?s owner for welding works involving the installation of some machines at the factory.

He said of the agreed sum of N600,000, he was paid the sum of N400,000, leaving a balance of N200,000. He said after the work was completed, he left his tools behind because it was too late to go home with them.

Lukmon said a few days later, he received an alert of N74,000 on his phone only for Erhunmwunnsee to call his mobile phone a few hours later to say that the said sum was sent to him in error.

The artisan said he explained to Erhunmwunnsee that the money came in at a time his wife was very sick and that he should please consider it as part payment for the sum of N200,000 that was outstanding. But he said the industrialist was furious, tongue-lashed him on the phone and vowed to deal with him.

Lukmon said: ?I was engaged for welding works at the factory preparatory to the installation of production machines there.

?We had agreed on N600,000 as the fee for my services. He paid me N400,000 in bits and I moved my tools and welding equipment to the factory site.

?On completing my work, I demanded the payment of the outstanding sum of N200,000 and he pleaded that I should give him a little time to sort things out since I had just introduced another artisan that was to fix a storage tank for the factory.

?It was late when I was leaving the factory, so I left my tools and welding equipment behind because he explained that we would start the second phase of the work in a few days.

?I told him that I would return to pick the tools box and welding equipment at a later date and he did not object to the idea.?

Lukman said he was pleasantly surprised when he received a credit alert of N74,000 from the man, thinking that it was a tranche of the N200,000 balance.

He said: ?When I demanded payment of the balance of my fees, which was N200,000, in order to pay for my sick wife?s treatment, the man begged me to give him some time to sort it out. He promised to pay me before long, and I left the factory.

?A few days later, I received a credit alert of N74,000 from him and I thought that he sent the money as part of the N200,000 he was owing me.

?The money came at a time my wife was on admission in the hospital, so I quickly spend a large percentage of it to clear her medical bill.

?The next day, I received a call from him, asking me to send the money back to him or prepare for a showdown, saying that the money was sent to me in error.

?I told him that he should remove the said amount from the balance of N200,000 he was owing me, but he was just not listening to me as he ranted on the phone.?

Lukman said on December 8, 2024, he visited the factory to pick up his tools box and welding equipment only for the factory owner to lock the gates, invited three soldiers in military camouflage and instructed them to beat him up. He said the soldiers in question were led by one Sikiru.

Lukmon said: ?The soldiers invited by the company?s owner, Mr. Terrence Erhunmwunnsee mercilessly beat me up. They asked me to lie down facing the sun and flogged me with a belt.

?They accused me of barging into Erhunmwunnsee?s factory to pick my tools and equipment without informing him. The soldiers stripped me and my wife?s brother and flogged us from 9 am to 4pm.

?My wife begged Erhunmwunnsee for hours before he later asked the soldiers to release us with a caveat that we must write an undertaking forbidding us from tarnishing his company?s image or his own image and that we would refrain from taking any action to seek redress in any guise.

?That was when they released us with the tools and equipment we gone to pick from the factory.

?He also asked the soldiers to force us to write that I was owing him the sum of N174,000 when in actual fact he is the one that has failed to pay me the sum of N200,000 as the balance for my services.

?I was being whipped by the soldiers as I wrote the undertaking they dictated to me.

?On getting home, I slumped and was rushed to this hospital.

?As I speak to you, my body is aching seriously.

?Please, sir, help me. I desire justice.?

Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone, Erhunwunsee, who allegedly invited the soldiers to brutalise Lukmon, said the artisan visited his factory without informing him and also threatened his life.

Erhunmwunnsee said: He broke into my factory on a Sunday (December 8) with two others (his wife and brother-in-law) and he threatened my life.

?I had to run out of the factory.?

Asked why he resorted to inviting soldiers to intervene in the dispute, Erhunwunsee retorted: ?Would I have allowed him to kill me? The question as to whether I invited soldiers or not is out of it.

?I have since reported the matter to the police and they are looking for him. You better tell him to show up.

?Besides, my lawyer has asked me not to entertain any question or speak with journalists about the matter.

?I cannot even speak further with you because I don?t know you.?

A copy of the undertaking extracted from Lukmon under duress by the soldiers reads in part: ??that I Lukmon Bisiriyu Akande on the 8th of December, 2024 came with my wife and brother (in-law) about 9.15 am and broke into the factory and processing room to collect my welding machine that was seized by the company because I am owing N174,000 for double transfer made to me?

?I hereby undertake that from today December 8, 2024, if anything happen (sic) to the chairman, the MD, the family (sic) and workers and all the machines, I will be held responsible?

?I also undertake not to invite my friends and family members to put the company in bad light?and that I have been given my welding equipment back intact??

In a twist, one of the soldiers called Lukmon on the phone, urging him not to escalate the matter in the media.

In an audio recording of the conversation obtained by our correspondent, the soldier identified as Sikiru told Lukmon in Yoruba to leave everything to God.

The soldier said: ?Lukmon, why did you want to escalate the matter again after the man (Erhunwunsee) said we should leave you and release your equipment to you?

?Why can?t you leave everything to God even if he has cheated you?

?I know that I was wrong too and you would remember that at a point I was pleading with him to let us soft-pedal in brutalising you.

?That was why I decided to flog your feet at a point.

?You should not have involved your wife in the matter at all, and that was what got the man (Erhunwunsee) angry.

?Remember that you wrote an undertaking not to escalate the matter. So, ask your family members to let the matter slide as the undertaking you made could be used against you, because you came to the factory on a Sunday when the factory was not in operation.

?I wasn?t even the one that dissuaded the man from calling the police or getting the police involved in the matter.

?Please, as soldier and a Muslim brother, I urge you to take what has happened to you or the beating in good faith and let it slide.

?I even asked Allah to forgive me for intervening in the manner I did?because I had been to Mecca for pilgrimage.

?I am a native of Ilorin.

?What else do you want us to do for you? After all we let go of your brother-in-law when we discovered that he was your in-law, and we asked him to put on his shirt after he was stripped.

?The man just called me on the phone now, saying that you had reported the matter to the media and that you want to escalate the matter.

?So, you don?t need to escalate the matter at all.

?You may send me your mother?s phone number so that I can talk to her to stop the matter from being escalated.? (The Nation)

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