By Peter Ejiofor
London, Sept. 12, 2023: A Ugandan, suspected to be on revenge mission against his father, has set fire on the automobile workshop of Nigerians in Vom Hagen Street, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
A statement by the Nigeria Union South Africa (NUSA) on Tuesday, said that nine cars and motor parts worth more than a million, five hundred and fifty thousand Rands (R1,550,000.00) were damaged by the fire.
The statement signed by Mr Habib Miller, the National Publicity Secretary of NUSA, said the incident happened on Sept. 5 at Mr Owolabi Gbadamosi’s workshop, and affected his other business associates.
It said that NUSA representatives, led by the Acting President, Mrs Doris-Ikeri Solarin, had visited the scene and sympathised with the affected compatriots.
On the NUSA delegation were Mr Trust Owoyele (National Treasurer), Mr Yomi Awosemo (National Assistant Welfare Officer) and Mr Olaniyi Abodedele (a.ka,The Voice), the NUSA Gauteng Chairman.
Prior to the visit, the union said it had informed Mr Christopher Oguri, who is in charge of Consular matters at the Consulate General of Nigeria in Johannesburg, South Africa of the incident.
The statement said the goal was to exhaust all means within the laws of South Africa to see if the affected Nigerians could get some compensation that would bring succour to them.
It said the suspected arsonist was still at large though a case docket had been opened at a police station.
According to the statement, Owolabi, narrating how the fire occurred, said that he was called around 7 p.m. on the fateful day after he and his colleagues had closed from work around 6 p.m., and left for their various homes in the province.
“When they got a call informing them about a fire at their business unit, they assumed it was the occasional transformer explosion that occurred within the vicinity.
“This happens often when thieves try to steal cables from the substation. Such blasts did not pose any significant damage to their shop. However, when they got close to the location, they saw flames that indicated something serious had happened.
“When the partners individually arrived at the business property, the fire service were already at the scene trying to douse the inferno,’’ the statement quoted Owolabi as saying.
Mr Tunji Balogun, also a cohort influenced by the incident, said he tried to save some of the vehicles, while efforts were being made to extinguish the raging fire, but he was advised against taking such action by the fire men.
This, according to him, is possibly due to the harmful toxic gas that emanates from such a scene, saying that an explosion could lead to severe injuries or death if a safe distance was not maintained.
Before the arson was perpetrated, a Ugandan national, who was subletting part of the location in question was reportedly having a conflict with his son.
The East African man had been operating an automobile spare part business on the property for seven years and sometime last year, he established the same type of business in Atteridgeville Pretoria, and then handed over the motor vehicle components business in Vom Hagen Street to his son.
ccording to witnesses, this was because the Atteridgeville location was generating satisfactory net income.
His son then secured a loan from his girlfriend and began operation and became somewhat successful.
But in a new twist a month ago, the son of the Ugandan whose name could not be verified at the time of this report carried out a twelve thousand rands (R12,000.00) transaction via his father’s bank account.
This was as a result of his inability to do so himself due to documentation challenges.
His father only remitted half of the money to him, and the deed infuriated him so much that he questioned his father’s handling of the situation.
Asking how he was expected to make progress if he is not allowed to reinvest money made into the enterprise, and unable to resolve their dispute, the father decided to reclaim the business from his son, taking advantage of possessing all the legal documents related to the business.
When his son would not vacate the building, after being verbally informed, the father decided to obtain a court order restraining his offspring from his business surrounding.
The statement said that weeks before, the son was alleged to have burnt the business and things got so bad that he attempted to stab his father, but was restrained by mediators.
The son then threatened that it would not the last the father would hear from him on the matter.
When the business location was set ablaze, his father was heard continuously lamenting that the fire was perpetrated by his son.
The arsonist’s target might be his father’s side of the business premises, but it escalated to Owolabi and others’ businesses. (GBN)
