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Here’s good advice, and it’s free: as a businessman or woman, stop giving out your business or complimentary cards to random, unverified people you meet for the first or second time. You can run into needless but serious trouble.
A popular businessman learnt the hard way very recently, and earned his freedom only by stroke of luck and fortitude. He had given his business card to a young man whom he presumed to be a business prospect or opportunity. Turns out the young chap was a kidnapper, and in one of his operations the business card he had collected from the businessman fell off his pocket and was retrieved from the crime scene by the police. This led to the arrest of the innocent businessman who certainly knew nothing about the kidnappings, and was not even living close to the city the kidnapping occurred in. His business card, misplaced or perhaps even deliberately left behind however, brought wahala to his life.
Luckily, the real kidnapper was arrested after three months and it turned out that they had exchange cards in a comedy show held in Transcorp, Abuja. The businessman was finally released having spent days in detention and with lots of money spent and lost in that time.
While it would be an overreach to project that most cards exchanged in pleasantries would end up in a similar fate, the above experience places a demand on businessmen and women to be circumspect in handing out their cards. Caution staves off regrets.
And as an addendum, kudos to the Nigeria Police in the businessman’s sordid experience. From retrieving and chasing evidence to arresting the true criminals and setting the innocent free. When they are not being difficult and almost impossible to bear, the Nigeria Police can be an effective agency for good.
Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq., is a Legal Practitioner and Managing Partner at Law Corridor, Abuja.
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