Man battered for being ‘disrespectful’ to Airforce man’s wife

Mr Lawson (left) and other staff members in his
office who were manhandled by the military men. Akeem Nafiu writes on the cat and mouse relationship between a man, Seyi Body-Lawson and the wife of an Airforce officer, which recently resulted in military men beating up the former.

For Mr. Seyi Body-Lawson, a photographer cum image consultant, Friday 4 April, 2008 was a day he would never forget in a hurry. It was the day he was beaten by 15 Airforce men who came to his office allegedly on the order of Wing Commander Okwuokei, the husband of Mrs. Jacqueline Okwuokei who shared the same premises with him.

Both of them are occupiers of a building situated at No1, Dipeolu Street, Off Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

While explaining his ordeal at the hands of the Airforce men to Nigerian Tribune in his office, Mr. Lawson said that he had been enjoying a quiet and peaceful occupation of the premises until year 2007 when the woman came and occupied the front building.

He stated that his refusal to submit himself to the dictatorial tendencies of the woman resulted into many disagreements leading to a strained relationship between them. On what led to the incident of 4th April, 2008, Mr. Lawson said that the genesis of the problem was his resolve to erect a 30KVA generator to further enhance his work.

"Having established from the landlord that I am entitled to a space directly in front of my office along my drive way, I decided to erect a Perkins Sound Proof 30KVA Generator to facilitate my work", he explained.

Mr Lawson further stated that in preparation for the installation of the generator, on the 24th of March, 2008, he called bricklayers to construct a slab in front of his office where he normally parked his car and power bike.

He recalled that immediately the slab was constructed, the woman called her husband who came into his (Lawson) premises to warn him to remove the slab and threatened to deal with him if he failed to do so.

On Thursday, 3 April, 2008, the generator was delivered and according to Mr. Lawson, it was installed on the slab already erected.

Speaking further, he said that at about 8p.m on the same day, Mrs. Okwuokei and her husband came to his office with a threat that if he failed to remove the generator that night, they would deal ruthlessly with him and his staff by the time they would come back.
Lawson stated that true to their words, between 9a.m. and 10a.m the next day, about 15 Airforce men, including the husband of the woman, broke into his premises.

"I was trying to get across to the landlord when the men held my manager and started dragging and beating him", he said.

He further stated that, "immediately I was sighted, one of the men in uniform gave me a slap on the face while another one kicked me in the groin and about four of them picked up a bamboo stick and started hitting me with it".

The matter was said to have been reported at Area F Police Station from where Mr. Lawson and his manager were referred to the DPO who advised them to go to the Airforce base, Ikeja to lodge a complaint to the Airforce authority.

The victim, through his lawyer, Kola Dopamu has also petitioned the commander, Area F Police Command. In the petition, a copy of which is in the possession of the Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Lawson alleged that the woman caused her husband to use military power to quell a civil misunderstanding between them.

He stated further that in the wake of the attack, he lost a Perkins 30KVA sound proof generator valued at N1.8million; bamboo wall valued at N120,000; glass door valued at N70,000; a NIKON D70s camera valued at N200,000 while the medical expenses incurred by him and his manager was put at N180,000.

However, in a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, Mrs Okwuokei, while admitting that there was no love lost between her and Mr. Lawson, dismissed the allegation that she was riding on her husband military connection to settle scores.

She described Mr. Lawson as an arrogant person who believes that he has money and, because of that, would not want to listen to other people.

According to her, Lawson lied when he claimed that the slab and the generator were erected on his drive way, saying the slab was made behind her balcony.She told the Nigerian Tribune that the caretaker of the house gave her permission to break the slab and remove the generator. She also claimed that it was her husband, having been aware of the matter, who phoned one officer to accompany her to see Lawson on the day preceding the incident to settle the matter amicably.

According to her, Lawson was very rude to the officer and this was what prompted their coming back the following day. "The Airforce men actually came to settle things with Lawson but he refused to give peace a chance", she said.

Effort made by the Nigerian Tribune to speak with the caretaker of the house, Barrister Kayode was not successful as his phone was switched off.