Forty-nine-year-old Greg Nnadi, an evangelist, has not allowed his visual impairment to stand in the way of his means of livelihood as he shuttles between the Apapa Port and his home in Ikotun, Lagos on his daily routine as a clearing agent.
But Nnadi, an Imo State indigene, has cried for help, alleging that after successfully practising as a clearing agent for 20 years, a client, a businesswoman named Mrs Uche Anagboso, has allegedly taken advantage of his visual impairment to defraud him of about N700,000.
Anagboso, who refuted the allegations, accused Nnadi of being economical with the truth.
Nnadi said Anagboso approached him to clear a 40-foot container used to import four “accidented” cars and few bicycles into the country. He said that bearing in mind the concession on “accidented” vehicles, they both agreed on the sum of N1.1m as clearing charges.
Nnaji said, “She gave me title documents, which showed that the vehicles are damaged or “accidented” vehicles. We agreed that I should use my money, which would be paid back after I got the container to the warehouse. I proceeded to process the clearing. I paid the necessary Customs duties and I was given a date for inspection.
“The day Customs officials came to inspect the contents of the container, they realised that the vehicles, which were titled as “accidented”, were actually in good condition. Also, there were so many other household goods in the vehicle and the Customs had to impound the container for false declaration.
“I told her (Anagboso) about the situation and I was angry that she deceived me. But she told me to use my experience to try and get the container released. I pleaded with high-ranking Customs officials and even cried just to get the container released.
“Later, the goods were released, but with conditions attached. When I loaded the container on a trailer and was about to leave again, the officer in charge of the gate intercepted it and reassigned it for examination. He impounded it again and another round of begging started. We were later directed to pay a debit note of N248,000 into government purse.
“By the time it was released, the trailer had accumulated a demurrage of more than N70,000. Again, when we left the port and got to Mile 2, the Federal Operations Unit of Customs impounded the container and took it to their office at the Ikeja command. I informed Mrs. Anagboso about all these and she even came to Ikeja to see the container for herself.”
According to Nnaji, despite informing the officials at Ikeja that the vehicle had been cleared, they decided to conduct another inspection after four days of impounding the container, after which they seized it for another one month.
He said he was forced to pay another debit note of N100,000 into government purse before it was released.
The evangelist said by this time, his expenses on the container had reached N2.5m. He said after delivering the goods, Anagboso paid up N1.6m remaining N900,000. He said he also instructed her to send $1,000 to his son schooling in South Africa, remaining an outstanding N739,000, which the woman had refused to pay.
“She no longer picks my calls. All attempts to locate her home has been in vain. I borrowed most of the money I used to clear her goods. She cunningly took the original documents of the goods from me and I have nothing to use as collateral against her,” Nnaji said.
When our correspondent contacted Anagboso, the woman said patronising Nnaji was an act of sympathy on her part.
“He accused me of being dishonest about the condition of the goods in the container. But it is simply because he does not understand what is called ‘accidented cars’ in the US. It means that they are cars that are off the road as a result of one damage or another. It does not matter the level of the damage. Even a little scratch may be labelled ‘accidented’. But when such vehicles get here, since the ‘accidented’ vehicles are seen differently here, the Customs officials will say they are fine.
“I patronised him just because of his condition. But I realised that he has been far from being honest with me. It is true that I owe him money. But when we started having issues with money spent during the clearing of the container, he decided to double-cross me on another deal and that cost me some money. This is why I am holding on to his own money that I owe him,” she said.
Activist, Esther Ogwu, who runs the Esther Child Rights Foundation, was notified about Nnaji’s plight after many months of trying to get his money.
Ogwu said she had made attempt to reach Anagboso for settlement but that she had continued to shun her calls.
“Many people are going out of their way to be kind to people with disabilities, it is unfortunate that this woman just deliberately wants this man to suffer more.
“At this point, we have no choice than to inform the Lagos State Office of Public Defender to take up the case. Maybe then, she would be willing to pay the poor man back his money.”
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