Casual worker shot by a policeman demands justice

The 25 year old nearly met her death on February 1, when a policeman from the Pen Cinema Division, Agege aimed a teargas canister at her and shot her in the face. The canister tore into the young lady’s nasal region, inflicting an injury that now requires reconstructive surgery.

All 25-year-old Aina Adebobola wanted to do was make a living. For her, even though she had to work under tough conditions (according to her co-workers), sitting at home wasn’t an option.

But on the premises of Linda Manufacturing Company, a Korean factory producing hair extension on Iju-Ishaga Road, Agege, Lagos,

Adebobola was attacked by the policeman, a protest had broken out at the factory when workers downed tools for ill-treatment by the company’s management. The victim, who is now at home because she could not afford to pay for further treatment of her damaged face, told punch news that during the protest, she was simply standing in front of the gate when a policeman aimed his teargas gun at her. 

She said,

 “I did not do anything wrong. Many of the workers stood outside and the gate was closed against them. They were protesting because of something one of the senior officers did to a worker. Justice must be done for what the police and the company have done to me. I have been treated like a nobody.
“I stood in front of the gate so that I could enter and go to work whenever the gate would be opened. I don’t have any other work. We are treated as slaves but I still go to work every day because I need the money.
“After I was shot, I realised that the police picked me up and put me inside their van. I fainted and did not know how I got to the hospital. I woke up in the hospital and people had to call my family members who came to pay for my treatment.”

Adebobola said the wound was patched up as much as the little money paid by her family could go but that she had been told that if she did not want a permanent gash on her face, she would need a reconstructive surgery.

But working for a monthly salary of between N35,000 and N40,000, Adebobola, who has worked in the scaling section of the factory for over two years, wondered how she could possibly afford such a treatment when the company has refused to take responsibility for the incident.

When our correspondent visited the company on Tuesday, a horde of protesting factory workers were in front of its factory, said they had decided to shut down operations of the company until the company acceded to their request by taking action against some officers who had been brutal to workers.