Chinese Couple Lock Up Employees.
A chinese couple in Abuja have been arrested by the police for allegedly locking up eight of their Nigerian staff in their apartment for four months
Acting on the information provided by a resident on Human Rights Radio, the Utako Divisional Police officers rescued the eight domestic staff on Tuesday.
The officers raided the Chinese couple’s residence in Jabi, Abuja and took them to the station alongside their domestic staff for interrogation.
Police sources claimed that the victims refused to cooperate with them and insisted that they weren’t held against their will. He said,
“We were surprised by the refusal of the Nigerians to narrate the details of their ordeal to the police. All of them claimed that they chose to stay with the Chinese couple without coercion, but that was not the information that prompted our visit to the apartment. From the look of things, there may be more to what they are telling us,” a police source said.
However the International Centre for Investigative Reporting disclosed a video where the victims narrated their gory experience in the house and how they were coerced to work against their will, denied food and movement outside the building even when they fell ill. The content of the footage was very different from what the told the police.
The Driver of the Chinese simply identified as Alex spoke on how the couple locked them in the building and forced them to work since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.
He told of how one of his colleague who was also present had N500 deducted from his unpaid salary because he went to get satchet water and another got N3, 000 taken out because he went to fill his pension form.
Another of the workers (female) who preferred not to be named said,
“When I was seriously sick, I asked these people (Chinese employers) to open the gate for me, but they refused until I became very angry before they opened the door. I know my life may be at risk but I don’t mind, let the world know what is happening.
… What do they want us to do?”
“We had to stay in the room and talk to people through the windows. They didn’t give us food; apart from the salary, they didn’t give us anything; they even cut our salaries.”
Although the couple had been released on bail, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, spokesman of Federal Capital Territory Police Command confirmed the incident, ading that further investigation will be carried out.
