In many countries of the world, Nigerians are viewed as fraudulent people, and this is quite evident in the manner in which they are treated. It is, therefore, shocking when a Nigerian is defrauded by a white man. Dipo Fashina reports.

Long gone are the days when one could easily make a living in Nigeria by doing just about anything. That was a period when Nigeria was still young and corruption had not become a fad. As the years went by, things got tougher and tougher, so much that getting a degree from an institution of higher learning no longer guarantees a secured future. Even the educated one now opt for menial jobs to survive.

It is, therefore, disheartening when one sees a Nigerian who is trying to survive being forced to his knees by another, especially when the perpetrator is better placed in the society than the victim. This was the case with Mr. Richard Olalekan, a dealer in charcoal, who was allegedly swindled by his English customer.

According to Mr. Olalekan, he had been in the charcoal business for some time and things seemed to be moving on fine. A few years ago, 2006 to be precise, fortune seemed to smile on him when a company in the United Kingdom, Diamond Fuel Supplies Ltd; contacted him to supply some consignments of charcoal. The director of the company at that time was Mr. Bob Baghnall. The man was so pleased with the goods that he requested for a continuation of the transaction.

Everything was going on well until the sudden demise of Mr. Baghnall in August, 2006, and the story changed.

Initially, Mr Jonathan Baghnall, heir to the company, continued the transaction with Mr. Olalekan, even commending him for the high quality coal he was sending over, consequently making him to ask for another supply of 400 containers of coal to be supplied after the successful execution of the outstanding one. All this took place towards the end of 2006.

But, at a point, payment for received goods seized, and Mr Olalekan waited for a while to see if it was just a mix-up that was responsible for it. He soon realised that his money might not come if he didn’t start asking questions.

So, he inquired from Jonathan what the matter was. He was told that the last set of consignments he sent was not satisfactory as it was found out that some of the coal was wet, and this was the reason his payment had been delayed. On hearing this, Mr. Richard said he told them that, even if that was the case, they should have informed him and he would have just made up for the difference in his next supply. So, not to cry over spilt milk, he asked for the quantity that was bad so that he could make up for it, and then, they started evading the issue all together. By then, Diamond Fuel Supplies had paid Richard 11,780.79 pounds out of the 37,145 pounds they owed him, leaving an outstanding balance of 25,364.2 pounds. This was in August, 2007.

This went on for a while until Richard was invited over to the UK by his customer, Baghnal, in September of the same year. This was probably done to have a sit-down with him so that they could sort out the problems they had, or so it seemed.

On September 22, 2007, Mr. Richard travelled to the U.K where he was received and accommodated by his host. During his stay, he met with Mr. Baghnal and other representatives of Diamond Fuel Supplies at the head office of the company located at Station Yard, Enslow-Bletchinton, Oxford, U.K. and, at this meeting, Mr. Jonathan not only reiterated his appreciation of the services rendered by Mr. Richard, he also informed him about the number of containers that had wet charcoal in them, and that they had used them for the production of charcoal briquette. He promised him that they would pay up their debt once they sorted themselves out as they were having financial problems with their bank.

Mr Richard produced two more bills of laden, valued at 19,669 pounds for additional containers that had been sent. This brought the outstanding payment to 45,033 pounds.

Mr. Richard finally had to leave the U.K when his visit was over, but on his last day there, he was given a money order by Mr. Baghnall for the amount of 30,000 pounds. He was made to believe that the money had been paid into his bank account in Nigeria. This made him happy. He was invited to have tea before the drive down to the airport, an invitation he accepted. No sooner had they started taking the tea when Mr. Baghnall started hurrying him up as he claimed to have a meeting.

He finished his tea and was to be taken to the airport by the company driver. He said he noticed that Mr. Jonathan called the driver away from the wheels and spoke to him in hushed tones. This didn’t bother him too much as he assumed he must have been giving him some instructions.

But, they had hardly started on their journey before Mr. Richard started feeling some discomfort in his stomach. A little longer, the mild discomfort had turned into a full blown case of serious stomach pain. He was holding his stomach and rolling on the seat. He said that the driver didn’t bother to inquire what was wrong with him, he just kept on glancing at him through the inner mirror as he drove on to the airport. No sooner had they arrived at the airport that the driver came over to his side of the vehicle, opened the door, and practically dragged him out of the car. He just left him on the curb and drove off.

It was some people at the airport that helped him into the airport building. He said that he was in the gents for a long time before he finally regained some composure. By the time he boarded the plane back to Nigeria, he was a little relieved, but the pain persisted.

When he got back to Nigeria, he was sick for several months before he finally got better. He later began to suspect that Mr. Baghnall might have attempted to poison him. But, this was just one of his problems. He also discovered that the 30,000 pounds payment was a dud; his bank in Nigeria said that they had not received any payment from the said organisation. When he called Mr. Baghnall to ask about the non-payment, he got a rude shock. When he identified himself as Richard Olalekan to Mr. Baghnal’s inquiry of who was calling him, the Briton said that it was not possible. And after a few seconds, he terminated the telephone conversation. He tried his number again on several occasions, but the person on the other side of the line always cut the phone once he heard his voice.

All this was about two and a half years ago and all the money owed Mr. Richard is now 53,773 pounds. Since then, Mr. Richard has been forced to close down his warehouse and laid off all his workers since there was no money to run the place anymore.

All efforts made by the Nigerian Tribune to reach Mr. Jonathan Baghnall to get his own side of the story failed. Every time a call was made to his office, it was always the same message, he was not on seat at the moment. And his personal phone does not get answered when called.

This is certainly a very pathetic case as Mr. Richard no longer has a means of livelihood. He has made spirited efforts to get what is owed him by Diamond Fuels, but he seems not to be getting anywhere. We can only hope that justice will take its course and Mr. Richard will finally heave a sigh of relief

So, why can't Mr Lekan or Nigerian Tribune Contact Nigerian Ambassador to UK? Is anything preventing Mr. Lekan from travelling back to UK, and get a Lawyer if the Briton is difficult to get on phone?