A young Nigerian music artiste Friday Emeh, has taken to social media to solicit for justice against Nigerian Retail Supermarket ShopRite.
In a series of lengthy Twitter thread, Friday alleged that he has suffered series of oppression and intimidation for many years from ShopRite, after he accused them of intellectual property theft and unauthorized use of his sound record in 2015.
You might also like
“These intimidation and economic oppression started in June, 2015 after I reported the unauthorised use of my intellectual work (Sound recorded jingle) by RSNL @Shoprite_NG to the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC),” he wrote.
ShopRite reacted by filing a N100 million lawsuit against the boy, to intimidate him.
“RSNL @Shoprite_NG filed a 100m naira suit against me that same year(2015) with claims that they’re yet to prove. A suit i thought was just an act of intimidation, not knowing i would also face forms of oppression using the Justice system.”
The case was slated for hearing in June 2016, but Friday said ShopRite influenced the judges to delay the court hearing up till this day.
Also Read: Wife Can’t Tell Who Her Child’s Father Is Between Her Husband And His Father (Video).
According to him, the company threatened that if he does not give up his right, they will use their power to make the case last more than fifteen years without hearing, a strategy to suffocate and put him through physical, financial and mental stress.
Friday lost his mother in 2016 and one of the things that disturbed her was this very suit against his son. He even missed several opportunities to further his education.
The young man was compelled to seek for help through the media and his friend Mr Faruk whom he alleged was the co-owner of the record.
His case against ShopRite Nigeria finally made the Punch Newspaper headline on 29th Nov. 2019. But no one believed his story, instead they believed the one ShopRite told.
All his effort to seek the help of the judges proved abortive. He even wrote a letter to the Hon. Chief Judge of the federal high court on 13th July, 2020, but he didn’t reply the letter.
The guy attended the last two sittings of the case without a lawyer because he could not afford their fee.
Friday’s landlord served him a quit notice in November 2020 and even summoned him to a district court in Nassarawa because he couldn’t pay his rent. The judge however pleaded with the landlord to exercise patience and give him more time to pay.
The guy has been depressed for years, he has even considered taking his own life before, but managed to hang on.
Now he is seeking for help from his fellow Nigerians with the trending twitter hashtag #JusticeForFriday.
