JUDE IGBANOI

Jude.igbanoi@thisdaylive.com

Dear Counsel, I should have written to you earlier on than this, but I didn’t know that my problem would last this long.

I worked for a foreigner and his wife, as a cook-steward for six and a half years. I didn’t have any problems with the couple or their children, for the period that I worked and lived with them.

My only worry was the very poor salary they were paying me. I got a better job in a fast-food company, and I told them that I wanted to leave. They refused and offered to increase my salary, but I had made up my mind to leave, because I also saw it as an opportunity to build a career.

To my total shock, my former boss came with the police to arrest me just three weeks after I left, in my new work place. They accused me of stealing their money, clothes and other household items. I spent four days in the cell, and the police have charged the matter to court.

I am completely innocent of these accusations; they are only doing this to me out of malice, knowing that I have no money to fight them back. They used the police to search my house and nothing was found.

What should I do? I have spent all the little savings that I have, on this matter. Some people advised me to beg them, but I cannot beg for a crime I did not commit.

L. Etuk Victoria Island, Lagos. Dear Mr. Etuk, I have heard and seen the needless pain and injustice that some people go through, due basically to ignorance.

Nobody has any right, to force another person to remain in an employment against his will. When the terms of agreement are not breached or violated, an employee can lawfully and wilfully leave his employment. The law only requires that adequate notice is given by such an employee to his employer, as provided in the terms of his contract of employment.

You also did not need to spend four days in the cell, without bail.

But now that the police have arraigned you in court, I advice that you get a lawyer to represent you in the case. If, as you hinted, you don’t have the funds to get a lawyer, there are numerous agencies and NGOs, that offer pro bono (free) legal services to indigent persons that find themselves in situations like yours.

I hereby, attach with this mail, a list of human rights NGOs and agencies, that offer free legal services, including the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria and the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.