By Lolade Sowoolu
A Scottish evening paper had reported the arrest of a Nigerian, who allegedly acted in a racially aggravated manner at a local restaurant in Aberdeen Scotland on Wednesday, July 7. The Nigerian, multiple award winning contemporary gospel artiste, Sammie Okposo, was reportedly charged to court and released on bail until further hearing in September, 2010.

Back in the country, Sammie who was in Aberdeen Scotland on honeymoon with his wife of exactly 30days (as of today) says he and Ozioma (his wife) had walked into the Jimmy Chung restaurant at about 4.30pm in company of friends, Mr and Mrs Efemua for a late lunch.

Sammie Okposo and wife

Barely had they settled to eat when they were accosted ‘rudely’ by officials of the restaurant asking them to hurry their food up and leave before 5pm, or else be charged for dinner.

Speaking through his publicists, MME, Sammie says all the efforts made to find out why they weren’t pre-informed about the rules before they placed orders were met with hostility as the restaurant manager, Ronny Shui Hung Yung together with a female staff insisted they co-operated.

‘At this point, the manager of the restaurant was already harassing Sammie’s wife and his friend’s pregnant wife, Eloho Efemua, who happens to be younger sister to popular Nigerian actor, Fred Amata.

Another lady dragged Sammie’s shirt ordering him to stop dishing food’, MME explained.
Displeased, newly-wedded Sammie uttered the words held against him in the Scottish court of law.

“He warned the manager to hold back his fingers from Ozioma and advised him (Hung Yung) to return to his country if he was tired of running a restaurant in Scotland”.

Pronto, manager wrote down his Mr Efemua’s car number plate and called the police. The harassed four waited out of their own volition for the police to arrive. ‘It took 30minutes for the Scottish police to arrive and we were not questioned at all before being taken to the police station, says Sammie’. Other Nigerians at the restaurant at the time, reportedly registered their displeasure with the restaurant management.

“It is true they took us to their police station without listening to our own side of the story but we played along with them as law abiding citizens of Nigeria. After the court did a thorough check on me on all the countries I have visited, they found that my record is clean.

I was released the next day without making any official statement. But if the manager of the restaurant presses the issue further and it results to a court case, my lawyer in Scotland , Micheal Munro will handle it. I don’t regret my actions for speaking up against rude behaviuors from the staff of Jimmy Chung Restaurant and for defending my wife as a true African man,” he said.

Sammie’s wife, Ozioma was very sad about the incidence. In her words, “we could have afforded to go to anywhere in the world for our honeymoon, but we choose to visit Aberdeen because of all the good things we had heard.

We have been emotional, mentally, financially, and physically drained on this trip, which brings us to one conclusion that going to Aberdeen for our honeymoon was the biggest mistake, we would ever make in our marriage”.

Sammie Okposo’s lawyer in Nigeria has resolved to file a suit on personal harassment and aggravation against the restaurant management for the violation of his client an wife’s human rights by the Aberdeen police. The lawyer is filing a petition to NIgeria High Commision and United Nations to which Sammie is an ambassador.