My name is Ehi Nosakhale Efe.
I studied in Italy, I came to France as Erasmus student, on student study exchange programme. On getting here they told me that I should help them to be implicating Nigerians here; I refused. They say I should be translating what Nigerians are saying on phone to them. Am a language translator, I studied languages.
Efe before the accident
They wanted me to be misinterpreting their conversations to them. I cannot do that because if you see what they’re doing to Nigerians here is really horrible, I cannot do that job, I cannot implicate my own blood. After that I went on to do other jobs, but as a head of kitchen I told them I wanted a job which I studied really. The way they look for job, they look for job for me because my job is very important here, so they found a job easily.
On getting to that place, the owner of the job said I should be cooking for them and I was doing it but I needed something because Italy gave me a document that covered the whole Europe, but any country I go I must have to ask for authorization to work, which I asked for. Because the owner of the work place is a very close friend of the head of police in this place, he told me to make love to him and I refused and because of this he told the head of police to stop my file, that they should not move on.
As I refused his advances he was looking for one way or the other to terminate my appointment, but here when you give somebody work contract you cannot terminate that appointment, but he did. So I have to report to Inspector of Work. They called him, they wrote him a letter, he refused, they now took both of us to court. My lawyer won the case for me. He appealed and my lawyer won the appeal for me too.
But the day they want to give me that cheque, that was the day his Police friend came to my house to look for me. They did all they wanted to do, but God was so kind I was not at home. They came again to take me to the police station, they said I should tell them how a Nigerian who they killed died. It was a French man who killed a Nigerian. I said no, I don’t know her. They really dealt with me, I was between life and death, they took me to the hospital to issue a certificate of death for my person, but God was so kind I woke up before the doctor came. They now asked me what happened. I explained.
They took me to court with all those pictures you are seeing. So when I left the hospital I sued them for damages because they have destroyed my life, I cannot stand, I cannot move, for seven years now I’ve not touched my head to comb my hair. So when they saw that I sued them, they looked for two Nigerians, gave them documents to testify against me that I am the one that trafficked them to Europe. They came to look for me again to kill, I saw them, but didn’t enter my house. It’s there they took me in the night outside, along the road, the pictures are here. I cannot see with my eyes, they took me to court and there the judge was asking me who is the lawyer that won my case with my employer for me? I now asked her, is it because of that case or what that am here? She told me am a human trafficker, I told her if am a human trafficker, can I confront them? She told me to shut up, you’re black and secondly you are a Nigerian.
I was judged because I was a Nigerian. I asked if a Nigerian cannot talk, she said no. They sent me to prison for nothing. They destroyed me, they sent to prison. It was really shocking. I wrote letters to the Nigerian Embassy several times, but they never allowed that letter to go. But after releasing me from prison they took me to deportation camp. It’s there God answered my prayers,. They came on the 10th of July 2018, they took me to Embassy.
It was horrible when the Nigerian Ambassador saw me. She now asked me what happened, I now told her. I told her I came to France as an Erasmus student, (European student exchange) programme. I narrated all my ordeals to her.
She now asked the police, ‘but you did not tell me that police rapped her, you did not tell me that you people destroyed her. is this person in the picture the same person here now? The police did not tell them they raped me.
The Ambassador now said but you did not tell us this woman was beaten. But she is telling me now, but you said I should give papers to you go and dump her in Nigeria.
I was rapped by the police, I was operated on, I cannot seat down as am talking to you, I cannot seat down directly on the chair, I was operated upon on my anus. They rapped me on my anus. I was operated in the hospital, evidence are their. I told Ambassador they rapped me, they gave me a chair to seat on I couldn’t seat down direct. Our Ambassador asked them, ‘can our policemen rape your women in Nigeria?’ She cried. The police were shocked.
She asked, did you tell me that you rapped her? They said no. Did you tell me that you destroyed this woman? They said no. The Ambassador now told them it’s your doctor who telling us this woman is not well. Take this woman, you people should go and treat her and come back. Since 2018 they have not gone back to the Ambassador to tell them this is what is going on.
When I left the prison they took me outside, I’ve been living outside like a dog.
They took me to prison again because I told the social department to help me. For them to protect the police they said am mad. But last year when the social department called the police for me because I told them I’ll not sleep the street again, they took me to prison. She called the police for me, took me to the court and took me in remand for one month from 30th March to 20th April last year and Judge me on 20th of April last year and gave me 6 months imprisonment, they asked for psychiatric report from a specialist psychiatrist. They came to visit me to analyse all what they said. So they now told the judge that am not a psychiatric patient, that I don’t have any symtom of psychiatry, nothing like that.
They have been giving me psychiatric drugs for 4 years. When they read the paper in court the lawyer they gave to me that day asked the judge, ‘what a contradiction?’ To protect the police they said that this woman is crazy, but to protect the social worker now you said she is not crazy.
Which one do we believe? You people have done all what you want to do to this woman, but you people should leave this woman alone, she’s not well, she has high blood pressure, very high. Even the BP report is among the papers I gave to you. I tried all my best to avoid this problem, they look for me because I did work with them, because I did not make love with them. But I am not regretting it.
Presently am sleeping on the streets since I came back from prison, before I came back they removed all my properties, gold, shoes, win, am a collector of win, they removed everything.
I wrote to the Nigerian Diaspora Commission to come to my aid because they treated me badly and I want them to recover my gold and my properties for me because my gold is worth 1.1 million Euro, my wine is over ten million Euro. That’s why they followed me because I wanted to buy international restaurant here. I studied cookery for five years in Italy before I went to university. This is why I studied languages because that man who gave me the wine advised me to buy an international restaurant. This is why I cry to Abike Dabiri and the Diaspora Commission to help me. They should come to my aid, am dying.
As am speaking to you now I cannot see because of the knife they used to piece my eyes. The ophthalmologist has told them they should give me medicated glasses, uptil now nothing. They broke my waist, one part of my body is paralysed.