Thursday, March 28, 2024

Full story: Nigerian’s cry

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A NIGERIAN MAN who lives and works in Barbados says he felt discriminated against by a media boss because of the Ebola situation in Africa.

Adesegha Omobamidele complained that chief executive officer of the Barbados Advocate, Anthony Bryan, refused to take his money when he went to the newspaper’s Fontabelle, St Michael office last Friday to have an advertisement placed in the publication.

“He told me that he did not want me in there and he did not want my money because of what was happening in Africa. I asked him what he meant – did he mean Ebola or the war? And he told me everything,” said an upset Omobamidele.

He explained that he was in the process of opening a restaurant serving African cuisine and after not finding a suitable candidate who could cook African food, he decided to apply to the Immigration Department to bring in a cook from Nigeria.

“The officer at Immigration told me that I would have to place an objection notice in both the NATION and Advocate newspapers twice a week for two weeks.

Omobamidele said he visited the Nation last Monday and paid $238 to have the advertisement placed; then he went over the Advocate next door.

“I spoke to a woman and showed her the ad which I placed in the Nation, which said I was bringing in a cook from Africa for my restaurant. She charged me $298 for the ad and I asked her why it was more expensive than the Nation, but she told me that is what I have to pay.”

The man said he left the office without paying for the ad, but returned last Friday to do so.

“As soon as I entered the office the receptionist told me that the boss wanted to speak to me.

I said, ‘The boss? Who is he?’ So she called someone on the telephone and handed me the phone. The man started asking me why I was putting this ad in the paper and if I didn’t know what was happening in Africa with the Ebola. I told him there were only cases in Senegal, Guinea and Sierra Leone. He told me he didn’t care, that Africa was Africa, and he owned the newspaper and he can decide if to take my money or not.

“When he hung up the phone I asked the receptionist who was that man and she told me it was Anthony Bryan, the owner of the newspaper.”

 

Invited to office

 

Omobamidele said Bryan had also invited him to come to his office with the money to pay for the ad, but he left because he was uncomfortable doing that.

“I went straight to the Immigration office to ask them if I could put my ad in another media house because I felt discriminated against and I will also speak to my attorney,” Omobamidele indicated.

He explained that his father was Nigerian and his mother Barbadian.

“I have a Barbadian identification card and a Barbadian passport. I have been living here since 1994 and I have never experienced anything like this,” he cried, adding that he had spent thousands of dollars on preparing the restaurant but was unable to open it because he could not find anyone to cook African food.

When contacted, Bryan admitted that he refused to take Omobamidele’s money.

“This is not a public paper; this is private. It is my right if I don’t want to work with him because he is from Africa,” he said, pointing out that his staff felt uncomfortable dealing with Omobamidele.

“It is disrespectful of him to want to open a restaurant here and bring in a cook from Africa. I told him straight I don’t want his money and I don’t want anything to do with him.

“I feel bad for Barbados that he is advertising for a cook from Africa.

He is being disrespectful to us. I told him not in my paper; he can go to the Immigration and get the ad. I don’t want that kind of money,” Bryan told the MIDWEEK NATION, as he warned that there could be a major issue in handling money with the deadly Ebola virus spreading.

Please read the full story in today’s MIDWEEK NATION, or in the eNATION edition.

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