In another twist of events, six Nigerians have cried out for help after being allegedly deceived into working without pay and eventual abandonment in Central African Republic (CAR) by a Chinese-owned company.
In a viral video sighted by The Eagle Online on Thursday, the Nigerian workers said they are currently stranded and in isolation in a border town with no food nor shelter.
The Eagle Online also learned that their passports have reportedly been seized by one of their employers said to be a citizen of CAR.
According to the workers, efforts made to liaise with one Abdul-maruf Ademola Aregbe, the Nigeria General Manager of the Chinese mining company for their payment and safe return to Nigeria did not yield positive results, as he claimed to be unaware of their situation.
“Good morning Nigeria. Good evening Nigeria. We came here through a mining company who brought us from Nigeria to come and work here.
“We have been here for 10 months but we need the assistance of Nigerians. We need the assistance of Nigerians to come and help us because the Chinese company that brought us here has abandoned us.
“Now, we worked here for more than 6 months and we were not paid anything.
“We arrived here in September last year. For 4 months, they delayed us at the capital city.
“They even said we were arrested by the government.
“And when we came out, they brought us to this bush. You can see there is no house anywhere here. There is no house here at all.
“This is a mining site. So now, we have been abandoned. The person in charge, the general manager, the Nigerian general manager of the company, his name is Abdul-maruf Ademola Aregbe.
“He has gone back to Nigeria. And when we called him, he said he too is not concerned about our well-being anymore. Now, his partner, his name is Amos.
“He is a Central African citizen. He seized our passport. He seized our passport.
“He doesn’t want to give us our passport. Even some of us here are ready to transport ourselves back to Nigeria.
“But without our passport, we cannot pass through their road because their law is very, very strict here.
“The distance between this place to Bangui is 850 kilometers. And within that place, we have a lot of barriers. Checking points, we have gendarmerie, immigration and everything.
“And if you are caught without your documents, it is prison setting in this very country.
“So please, Nigerians, if there is a way you can help us, please spread this video. Let them know that some Nigerians have been abandoned in Central Africa.
“Our location is Senye, on the Bambari region in Central Africa. The Chinese man that brought us in his company is a radio sectoral mining company in Nigeria.
“The owner of the company is Mr. Yang. And his partner is Mr. Wu, he is also a Chinese man. He is in this very country. They abandoned us.
“We worked for many months, they didn’t pay us our salary. Now, we can no longer feed. There is no money.
“There is no transportation. And they still seized our passports. And held it in the capital city in Bangui.
“Our location from Bangui is 868 kilometers. From this very place we are now told, the place we can get a single network of the sinker of this country is 35 kilometers. The place is Alindao.
“I am repeating, we are under Senye. We are in Senye. Village. It’s a village. It’s inside the forest. This region is under Bambari.
“Please, come to our rescue. Our family have been worrying about us. And the people we sent message to call Mr. Ademola Admaruf in Nigeria, he refused to respond to them. Saying that he too, he doesn’t know anything about us anymore. Please, Nigeria, we need your help. We don’t want to die here,” they said.
