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According to Paparazi Magazine
The Abuja branch of the Pepsi-7up company is currently in a rough battle with one Madam Comfort Uwajeh Oladipo who has alleged sexual harassment, grievous violation of her rights and illegal termination of the contract she entered with Pepsi-7up Company as a sole operator of the company’s Canteen located at Idu Yard, Abuja.
Madam Gloria who got into the contract with the company two years ago invested her money into the business which ran into millions of naira. The Contractor, Madam Comfort was expected to equip the Kitchen and the Canteen of the company with her money and pay at least, five Staff. In the said contract, the company was not liable in any way to her.
It later appeared to Madam Comfort that she was being swindled in all the arrangement since the company did not provide her with any subsidy or support whatsoever. She was not even guaranteed customers who were supposed to be staff of the company. Painfully, the company did not allow outsiders into the canteen to patronize her; hence, the Caterer was subjected to the whim and caprices of the Staff as well as the Union, she alleged.
A source within the Pepsi Company who sympathised with Madam Comfort had told Paparazzi that some smarter women, who had managed the Canteen prior to Comfort’s entry, understood the whole idea and did the ‘needful’ in order to make their money. In order words, Madam Comfort failed to yield to the sexual advances of some of the company’s influential staff, hence she was frustrated out of the canteen. The source said; ‘’with their bodies, their daughters’ and that of their female Staff, of course, they sold well and made money, but they did not last as they were all pushed out like Madam Comfort.’’
Relatively, in a petition forwarded to Paparazzi by Madam Comfort, she also alleged serious sexual harassment by staff of the Pepsi-7up. She said the sexual harassment were at the extreme that even her 12-year old daughter became a target at a point. She decried regular verbal assaults on her by some of the staff who would say she was not generous with her ‘things’ which implies her uncompromising stance regarding their advances on her and her daughter.
Comfort said: ‘’ I stood up to them and refused flatly to sleep with any of them. I also did not encourage any of my staff to sleep with them, even though they would always have their way. However, the mafia guys in their Union wanted me at all cost. When they could not get me and it dawned on them that I had made my body a ‘no go area’, they decided to frustrate me out of the contract and out of the compound. Right now, from the millions of naira I invested in the Canteen, I’m only trying to survive. I cannot even pay my children’s school fees or renew their rent. They frustrated me to the point that the management watches out for any staff who goes to eat in my Canteen to victimize. The major official excuse being used against me was that my food was expensive. I had been compelled by the committee the management set up to supervise the Canteen, to sell my food at N100-N150. Yet, the Staff said my food was expensive, and on February 4, 2014, my Contract was officially terminated without any identified breach. The Plant took advantage of Clause 8, which gives it the right to terminate the Contract at any point it decides.’’ She cried out.
In a petition she drafted and sent out to different organizations, she particularly mentioned one Ajayi who works in the company’s Computer Department as one those who had wanted to sleep with her at all cost. Comfort said: ‘’Ajayi was the major culprit in the crisis because he had made series of sexual advances at me. My constant refusal led to the crisis that rendered me financially incapacitated. Ajayi works in the computer Department’’ She had revealed.
Though, she is not sure, it is possible for her to win any legal battle against the company especially as cases of sexual harassment are hard to prove; she believes that all hope was not lost as God was capable of fighting for her. Hear her: ‘’I know I may not have a case on Legal grounds since I signed the Contract with my eyes wide opened, but I do know that there are windows available to me to pursue my case to its logical conclusion.’’
In furtherance of her fight for justice, she had written to the company management in Abuja and in New York, drawing their attention to her predicament. She said she never got a reply to the letter she thought was going to help her get justice, at least against the staff who had constantly assaulted her and her daughter.
In a letter dated December 10, 2013 and addressed to the Chairman, Pepsi-Seven Up Bottling Company, World Headquarters, New York, U.S.A, and obtained by our reporter, Comfort had requested to be compensated as she and her partners are now bankrupt as a result of the termination of her contract and other wicked acts perpetrated against her business operation at the plant in Abuja, Nigeria. In the letter, Comfort had indicted some of the staff of the company for their various roles in her predicament. She had accused few of them who assaulted her and her children sexually.
Below is a reproduced copy of the letter:
Re- The Issues between the Canteen and the Abuja Plant of Seven Up
THE TERMINATION LETTER
On February 4, 2014, I was finally served a Termination Letter by the Abuja Plant of your organization in Nigeria.
First, let me say here that it would have been my pleasure, an honour and a privilege to work in your company but for the circumstances that have been thrown up to sabotage my business in your premises.
Specifically, certain individuals have used their positions in your organization to frustrate and consequently cripple my business under the umbrella of the Abuja Plant. At this juncture, I have no choice but to mention names and their role in the crisis:
1. Nelson Oladimeji, the General Manager: As the Head of the Plant, Mr. Oladimeji has indirectly encouraged the sabotage of my business by deliberately not addressing the mass diversion of Staff from the Canteen to less hygienic ‘bukas’ (a tacky, untidy structure made of knocked together planks inside of which an equally untidy, wrapper-tieing). Even when I went to meet with him to beg him to intervene he virtually dismissed my Partner and myself out of his office with disdain. On a number of occasions in which he had the opportunity to show some level of concern and compassion, he chose to be hardened like the Biblical Pharaoh. Only the Plant Manager showed concern about the state of the Canteen but his (PM’s) subsequent silence, we suspect must have been due to some level of subtle intimidation from some quarters loyal to the GM. This is the similar treatment we suspect would have been the case of many of the Staff who were formally eating in the Canteen but stopped without any reason. Also, when the GM became too friendly all of a sudden and came to the Canteen to fraternise with our children, we thought he had come for peace. The Termination Letter showed he had other motives. Even when our daughter became seriously ill, Mr. Oladimeji never offered a word or assistance; knowing full well he was the last top Management and the only Staff (for that matter) to have fraternized with my daughter and my eight year-old son.
2. Remi Fadola, the Human Resource Manager (HRM): He is the supervising Chairman of the Canteen Committee. He is the official who replied our Letter of Appeal with the Performance Warning Memo. As the Head of the Staff he also contributed to encouraging Staff diversion from the Canteen among others.
3. Adebayo Odubena, Human Resource Officer (HRO): He is the Chairman of the Canteen Committee. Although, he makes out to be friendly or diplomatic, he has been the instrument the Oladimeji-led management uses to carry out its dirty jobs against the Canteen and me.
4. Ajayi Adeleke: He works in the Computer Department. He is the major culprit in this crisis because the foundation of all my woes in the Premises of the Abuja Plant is premised on the fact that I rejected his sexual advances when he was the Vice Chairman of the Committee. He is the major culprit yet not the only one.
5. Adeoye: He is Ajayi’s friend and severally he has attempted to pimp me for Ajayi. Each time saying things like ‘why are you stingy with your ‘thing’ (meaning my womanhood). Both Adeoye and Ajayi are strong members of the Union. There were other Staff who harassed my Staff sexually and even my 12-year old daughter. Some have been sacked (not because of their crime against me but for other administrative reasons).
6. Bulus and Aafa (Victor Falolu): Although these men did not harass me sexually but they were the major foot soldiers that were used by the Oladimeji management to sabotage my business through false rumours against my food and the canteen.
Most of these I had complained about in the correspondences I have written to them, all of which I had forwarded to you in my previous communications with you.
I know I may not have a case on Legal grounds since I signed the Contract with my eyes wide opened but I do know that there are windows available to me to pursue my case to its logical conclusion.
I am reliably informed that why they had to hurriedly terminate my contract a week to your arrival in the Plant is so they can shield you from visiting the Canteen to see the mess they have made of the Canteen. Otherwise, what was the hurry when my Contract actually expires March 25, 2014? They completely neglected the facility to the point that hygiene is now becoming a problem. All this is designed to frustrate us out of the place. Even though according to Agreement that I signed, is it right or fair or just for you to terminate a contract just because a clause empowers you to, without any identified breach?
I have also attached the Termination Letter and the Vacancy Advert they hurriedly prepared for the Canteen.
However, I never expected it would get to this and I am hoping for this last time, that it would never get to the point where I would take your organization to court or to the court of Public opinion because it is my joy to work for your organization. I am also aware that what these individuals have done to me they did using their position in your company ignorant of the damage it may do to your image should the matter become a Public issue. I also know that most of the allegations against these people may not have strong evidence but I know that the court of Public opinion may not be in your favour over the injustice and inhumanity these men subjected me to in your Plant in Abuja. The Media and the Public would have been interested in using your organization as case study in judging the integrity of the kind of Contract your Staff use in luring unsuspecting but ignorant women like me so they can easily take advantage of them and their business.
But I am not interested in any of that because it would affect the image of your brand which I love very much to promote. Rather, I would be satisfied with just your sanctioning of these men whose action would have caused a grave damage to your image.
Against this backdrop, therefore, I would like to appeal to you to ensure that justice is done in my case and the men involved in this matter sanctioned appropriately.
Finally, my ultimate appeal to you is to consider my request for compensation so I can have sufficient funds to pick up and start all over again because as it stands now, my millions of naira worth of investments has gone down to less than zero and I can no longer meet my responsibilities. Worse still, I have dragged down my Partner’s money with it. On my account, he is highly indebted just as I am.
Kindly, consider so I do not leave your Premises from a multi-million naira Investor to a pauper.
Meanwhile, Paparazzi’s visit to Pepsi-7up office in Abuja confirmed the news. The Plant General Manager, Nelson Oladimeji confirmed that Madam Comfort was sacked as she rightly alleged, but that she was sacked based on the complaint the management received regarding the quality of her food. He however denied the allegation of sexual harassment, saying that even though Madam Comfort had earlier complained to management about the matter, the management had requested for a reliable evidence to justify her claims.
As at the time of this report, Paparazzi was informed by an insider that two people were being considered to replace Madam Comfort, one of them our source alleges is a girlfriend of the GM who had run the canteen for three years before but was booted out. Our source says the particular lady had been seen moving things into the canteen.
