For many consumers of Coca Cola products from the beverage plants of the  Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Plc, it is always a refreshing experience cooling off with the liquid contents of any of the  popular brands like Coke, Fanta or Sprite even as one derives extra satisfaction from the corporate image projection via colourful and humorous advertorials on TV and radio.

The Coca Cola Company has achieved so much in terms of product patronage and commitment to corporate social responsibility such that it would be needless to state that the brand is a house-hold name in Nigeria.

However, while many people are ‘obeying’ their thirst by enjoying Coca Cola products at will,  a grandfather sits alone in his compound situated in Oji Local Government Area of Enugu State counting his many losses all  allegedly caused by agents of this giant brand.

For Mr. George Onyema, there is certainly nothing to make him happy at least for now as far as  the Coca Cola brand is concerned because he is yet to recover from the trauma, psychological disorder, pain, torture, grief and physical deformity he has passed through after he was involved in an automobile accident with a Coca Cola delivery truck seven years ago.

It all started in the evening of February 17, 2001 at about 7:30 p.m when Onyema and a relation were driving his Mitsubishi Colt car with registration number AS 245 ENU to the Police College, to check a friend who was visiting from Sokoto.  They had seen a one-head-lamp automobile coming in opposite direction and mistakenly took it for a motorcycle.

According to him “as I was heading towards the Police College gate, just between the Bishop’s Court gate, I saw the thing coming with one light on. I thought it was a motorcycle and before I could realize it was a vehicle, it drove recklessly towards our end of the road and collided with my car before taking off in a hit-and-run manner,” he recollected.

It took the help of his relation with him to control the car and prevent it from running into the bush as Onyema lost balance after the impact.

“I was dazed and could not control the vehicle; the whole left side of the car was smashed in such a way that the door on the driver’s side could not be opened. The fuel tank compartment burst open while the windshield got shattered.   As I could not move my left arm instantly, I knew that I had been injured,” he said.

It took the efforts of people to get him out from the car and rush him to a nearby clinic where first aid was administered. It was at the clinic where there was light that he saw the degree of his injury.

“I saw that my arm was only held by my flesh as the bones were smashed. The ulna, radius and humerus were all broken. It was so serious that the doctor, Dr. Achime did a referral letter for me to be transferred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Enugu that night. He volunteered his car and I was transferred that night,” he went on.

While the accident occurred, neither Onyema nor his relation could make out the identity of the vehicle that hit them but bystanders confirmed that it was an NBC Plc sales truck that operated within the vicinity. And again, the same report was corroborated by policemen who were at the gate that a Coca Cola truck just passed.

While the victim was at the hospital, his lawyer, Mr. H.N Osakwe and the victim’s sister, Catherine went to the NBC Plant at the Ninth Mile area of Enugu and made a report. The Transport Manager went through the schedules of the drivers to find out which driver had business within the area that day and also to find out when they returned.

He found the particular vehicle, a Mercedes Benz Coca Cola Delivery truck with registration number AY 485 LSR and identified Mr. Josephat Ogwudile as the driver  who incidentally owned up to the crime.

The driver confessed that he actually did not stop on that fateful day because he was carrying large sum of money and also that the police escort with him told him not to stop. They never bothered to make a report at any of the police stations neither did Ogwudile bring the incident to the notice of the management. The police were invited and took statements from both parties before commencing investigations.

While still on admission, the victim, Onyema was invited by the police for road sketching of the accident scene and he complied after getting the permission of the hospital authorities. In that very painful state, he was driven down to Oji, more than 26 Kilometres  from Enugu   for the exercise.

“I was invited and had to go there despite my condition. I had external fixators inside my shoulder. It is an orthopaedic instrument used to hold the bone together. It was very difficult for me to move at that time and I could not wear clothes. I found it very embarrassing to be in that condition and pass through the bad roads to Oji and back after the exercise that lasted for more than three hours. We finished and the police concluded that the driver recklessly left his lane maybe out of over speeding or drunkenness. We all signed the document and I was taken back to the hospital.”

All the while the victim was a patient at the Orthopaedic Hospital, he was  visited only twice by officials of Coca Cola. The first was when the Transport Manager came in company of the police and later they visited about six weeks after the incident to ascertain the degree to which he was injured. The victim made a passionate appeal for them to help him acquire some of the drugs because he cold not afford them all but what he got was a promise that management would look into that. Instead of random help the Coca Cola officials came with threats the last time they visited with the Plant Manager identified as one Mr. Idris.

“The last time they visited me was when I had been discharged that was three months after the incident. They came to my house at Enugu and the plant Manager displayed so much arrogance and issued threats at me. He said that he wanted me to know that the matter must be sorted out inside my sitting room and that if I was thinking of going to court, that I should forget it as Coca Cola would make sure nothing  happened  both from the police or the court.” Onyema explained.

It was rather more pitiable that the initial compensation fee he was requesting for could not be paid.  He had asked for less than N1 million as he needed the money to offset his medical bill; pay his 11 workers who he could not pay for three months; pay for the repairs of his car and also compensate him for his pet dog, a German Shepherd, Billy who died as a result of abandonment as no one could take care of the pet. The total claim summed up to N900, 000.

The Plant Manager alleged to have exhibited bullish attitude left and that was the last he heard from them. When he waited for two months without any form of response from NBC Plc, he headed for the court on April 22, 2002 in the most Herculean manner.

According to Onyema, it was a very frustrating task getting the case to be charged to court by the Police as he suspected that NBC, true to their threat, sabotaged every effort he made to bring the matter to court on time. It took an appeal which was lodged to the Commissioner of Police on December 13, 2002 for the matter to be heard in court.

The first suit was between the Commissioner of Police Vs Josephat Ogwudile on the charges of hit-and-run serious motor accident and was filed at

in Oji while the second suit was between George Onyema Vs Josephat Ogwudile as First Defendant and Nigeria Bottling Company Plc as second defendants. The case was lodged at a High Court.

At the court, Coca Cola was represented by Barrister Bola Adeboboye while H.N Osakwe was counsel to the plaintiff.

At the Magistrate court, Ogwudile was advised to seek for settlement or risk being jailed as the crime of hit-and-run has no option of fine. The case was adjourned for many months.

At the High Court proceedings which took place sometime in 2002, the counsel to NBC Plc, Mr. Adeboboye requested for an out of court settlement which was granted him. He then requested for a date with the plaintiff for a meeting. Onyema made known in a letter dated December 10, 2002 to Adeboboye the possible dates for a meeting between both parties.

But contrary to what was agreed, Adeboboye sent a junior lawyer to Onyema’s residence to settle the case to which Onyema objected on the grounds that his lawyer’s chambers would be the ideal place for such meeting and besides, the junior lawyer was not the proper person to handle the proceedings of that magnitude.

While the ensuing tussle was going on, Onyema discovered on one of his Out-Patient visitation that his bones did not join properly.

“When the POP cast was removed, the consultant discovered that the surgery did not adequately take care of the bones. It only healed my wounds. I could still not make use of my left arm. The hospital quickly referred me abroad for further treatment,” he informed.

Arrangements were made between the National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu and Tulsa City Orthopaedic Hospital in Oklahoma, USA for further surgery. By February 2003, Onyema departed for the USA and went for two surgeries to repair his damaged hand.

“In the US, the surgery was done and the surgeons extracted bones from my hip bone to replace the crushed bones in my humerus and put plates in my ulna. The plates were held with 22 screws. They also operated on my fingers which were disfigured and rendered inactive. That was how my hand was rescued,” he explained.

The surgeries took nine months to be completed and he spent 14 months abroad under a constant attendant physiotherapist.

On returning to Nigeria, Onyema got another lawyer, Mr. Wole Olufon who practises in Lagos to take up the case. The new counsel reached out to NBC Plc Headquarters in Lagos and got the response of the company secretary who came and revealed that it was the Enugu Plant management that put them in what he described as “a mess.”

“The secretary, one Mr. Wole came and pleaded with us to reduce our claim so they can pay up. He said it was the Plant Manager at Enugu that put them in the mess as Coca Cola is liable to 13 per cent of the liability while their Insurance firm will be responsible for the remaining 87 per cent. He told us that the information did not get to them for close to three years and that by the time they got to know that the accident was serious, it was late for their insurance to come in,” Onyema explained.

He relied on the plea with the understanding that it was coming from a responsible gentleman and together with his lawyer; the claim was reduced from about N30m to N14m.   This included his hospital expenses both at home and abroad, flight expenses and other miscellaneous claims that were there from the onset. They passed the claims to the Secretary but as at press time, nothing had been heard from the Company.

While he was in the US, Onyema made efforts through his son to reach the Coca Cola Headquarters in Atlanta and was informed that the nature of business Coca Cola operates in Nigeria was under franchise but advised him to come back to them if the franchise owners failed to act and take up their liability.

Onyema at this point is heading back to the court with a claim of N50m damages from the Nigeria Bottling Company, producers of Coca Cola for the series of ordeal they have made him pass through.

“I have gone through a lot since this accident happened; I lost my company; Walls and Woods Ltd and lost my farm as well as the opportunities to have invested in the schemes being introduced by government. I lost my dog, had to hire people to take care of me as I am living alone and worst of it is that I am living more or less on the good will of people as I had put everything I  got into treating myself both here and abroad. I still owe hospital bills and cannot live a normal live as I still go through series of trauma. I am going to court again to seek for justice for how Coca Cola helped in destroying my life. I am also documenting my experience with them and will present my ordeal in the hands of Coca Cola for the world to see after I will submit it to their Headquarters in the US,” the aggrieved grandfather said with determination in his eyes.

Efforts made for several days to speak with officials of the Nigeria Bottling Company through the corporate affairs department failed as our reporter was referred to the Company’s communications consultants who incidentally could not also be reached as at press time.

Robot  # 1 | 28.04.2008 23:11

For many consumers of Coca Cola products from the beverage plants of the Nigerian Bottling...Read the full article.

Chekereke  # 2 | 29.04.2008 08:23

The judiciary is supposed to be the hope of the common man, and the Nigerian Judiciary has tried to live up to that billing (in highly publicised cases) in the last three years or so. I think NVS can take up this challenge and start a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria to assign this case to a respectable judge who will handle the matter expeditiously! Mr Onyeama, ndoo! By God's grace, Coca Cola will not get away with this one.

Bode Eluyera  # 3 | 29.04.2008 13:04

It's very UNFORTUNATE and DISAPPOINTING that this kind of news does not attract the attention of our CARING AND PATRIOTIC VILLAGERS. WHAT A PITY!!!! Organizing petitions to protest British Airway's inhuman treatment of Nigerians is a right step in the right direction, at the same time I think 'Charity should first of all begin at home' by defending Niggerians that are being maltreated by multinational companies IN NIGGERIA.