How John Effiong, CEO of Coolcover Abuja, Assaulted Me

 

caption: John Effiong

                           

On Wednesday, February 13, I arrived back in Nigeria after a trip. The next day, Wednesday, I decided to visit a friend of mine named Bunmi. I arrived at her house around 11 a.m.
I walked past the gate and into her house opposite the Zimbabwe High Commission on Parakou Crescent, Abuja. As I headed towards my friend's room, a dark complexioned man who was later identified as John Effiong, the CEO of Coolcover, an Abuja-based company approached me.

In an angry voice he addressed me, “Hey you, come here!”

Surprised at his tone, I immediately answered, “Excuse me?”

He said, “Can't you greet me?” Then he continued, “What are you looking for?”
Again I answered, “Excuse me?”

Then in a pitch even more loud – so loud I was left confused why he was in such furious mood – he said, “Who are you looking for?”
“My friend,” I answered.

Then his verbal assault poured out: “You are very rude! You can't say hi.”

I silently walked on without uttering a word to him. I thought that would signify the end of the drama. But he followed me and started to shout at the top of his voice, “Get out of this house right now! I said get out of this house now!”

I had become furious at this point. “Is this your father’s house?” I asked him. “Did I come to your door? Why do you ask me to leave the premises?”

I walked to my friend's door. As I was about to enter, Mr. Effiong slapped me on my back. “You're mad, stupid girl!” he cursed. He went on calling me names. Then he slapped me. I hurriedly moved away to avoid further assault.

Mr. Effiong did not stop. He called the security guard of the building. “Look at this girl’s face,” he said to the security guard. “Don't ever allow her into this compound again.” I ignored him and entered my friend’s room.

Mine is just one story of the way some uncouth men assault women in Nigeria. As I shared my experience with some friends, it turned out that several of them had similar stories of being assaulted by men in Nigeria, but especially in the Abuja metropolis. In sharing this story, I hope that men who think it is right to unleash verbal or physical abuse on women would be called to order. It’s wrong to disrespect women. After numerous calls from journalists who heard my story, Mr. Effiong still refuses to see anything wrong in what he did. To this moment, he has refused to apologize for his deplorable and unprovoked assault on me