Mr.Jacob Ajomale, a gospel artiste alleges how he was tortured by
American immigration officers and how a chip was inserted in his body
You studied Economics, why music then?
Music for me is an inborn thing, it runs in the family. My late dad
was a renown organist and accordionist coordinating the choir and that’s
where I picked it up.
Why didn’t you study music then?
I didn’t because I believed it was just a natural thing for me. The
same question was asked by the Papa Awolowo when I was playing for him
at the Ogun State University in March 1983. He was asking the vice
chancellor whether I studied music. It’s just a natural thing.
Which means that you didn’t use the certificate to work?
Well, I only did when I was working as a financial analyst. I worked
with the Union Bank while I was doing my youth service. I won the best
corps member award and got an automatic employment after my service and
started a programme at the Bendel State Television Station. Then I was
invited back to Lagos where I worked as an analyst reporting and
coordinating marketing activities for Kodak International. That was all I
did with the certificate.
Oke Mimo, an album you and others did as choir of Ayo Ni o
Movement, was a chartbuster, I expected you to be swimming in millions.
We sold millions but we did it for the church and for the glory of
God. I never made a dime on my own; it was a way of rendering your
talent for God and that is what we believe in Nigeria. But it is
different in America. I sang the song and we all marketed it but I never
made a dime even till present.
On your own, can you mention about one or two hit albums you made?
The first one was a tribute to Papa Awolowo. After getting such a
complement from him while I was serving in Benin and when I heard that
he had passed on, I came to see his family and went into the studio to
record an album in his memory. I did Comforter which was a breakthrough
album and it was played everywhere. I got an invitation to come to the
United States of America. In the US, I did two, Always by my Side and
Great Testimony and they did very well in the market.
Did you enter America with valid papers?
I entered the US with a valid passport and a valid visa. I was
invited by a church, Mountain of Peace C and S Church, Washington, for a
musical workshop and it lasted for three months. Six of us went on the
trip and after the workshop, the visa expired after six months and I
didn’t know anything about the immigration stuff in America. I didn’t
know I would need social security and other papers. I lost my status and
that was the beginning of my problem in America.
But it was reported that you entered the US with forged papers.
No, that is not true. I entered America first with valid papers. I
was given the visa on March 13 and I left Nigeria on April 11 and got to
America on April 12 1997. I want them to check the record; I got there
legally with a visiting visa but it got expired after six months. The
church promised to help; they got an immigration lawyer for me but the
filing wasn’t approved and I ran out of status. I borrowed money to go
to America then and I had to work to be able to pay back. I stayed back
until I got a job; I got the social security but I didn’t have green
card. Throughout my stay in America, I was working with my social
security number. I never used any other person’s or any other thing
except the time I came to Nigeria in 2001 and I am not going to lie
about that. I got a call from home that my dad was sick and I didn’t
know how to get to Nigeria and I am the first son, remember I told you
that I had lost my status since. A brother that I brought in to live
with me in my first house in America suggested that I could use his
information to travel home which I did successfully without any problem.
Everything was done perfectly, I submitted my valid passport and the
immigration people saw everything. I got back to America without any
problem.
But what you did was not legal.
Yes, it was not legal and that was the mistake of my life. That
mistake has turned into a ministry now because I keep telling people, if
for any reason you have to travel, make sure your stay is as directed
by your visa. I paid for that mistake because it was the same brother
that reported me to the authorities when I got my own green card. The
second time I came to Nigeria, I came with my own green card. Even that
time that I used his passport, I was not arrested and he was the same
person that took me to the airport and called my mum that I was safely
back. My dad did not die until seven years after and by that time, I
already had my green card. Before I got back to America, this guy had
reported me to the immigration. His name is Emmanuel Adetokunbo Adegoke.
When people asked him why he did that, he said he didn’t know what
pushed him and that he never knew the implication. This is somebody I
brought to my house and he lived with me for five years. I supported him
to go to the best university and when he finished, he got a good job
and after he left, he thought that’s how he could pay me back.
Immigration didn’t know anything about what we did; it was not that they
were that smart but it was Tokunbo that reported me. I don’t know what
he told them but they were waiting for me to return and they promptly
arrested me even when I had travelled with valid papers. Since I was
travelling with valid documents, the best they could have done was to
charge me to court, not arrest me. They asked me to tell them what I
knew of Emmanuel Adegoke passport but I insisted on speaking with my
lawyer first. I wasn’t going to lie but I needed legal advice.
So what then happened?
They kept me in a cold room for nine hours. I got to America about
1pm on February 5, 2009 and until 11pm, they didn’t allow me to come out
of the extremely cold room. Let them check their record very well. I
could have died. I was forced to tell them that I used Emmanuel
Adegoke’s passport and from there, I was put in detention for about four
months until I saw a judge. The judge checked and said I had a very
clean record and that because of that she said she was going to give me
the minimum sentence, six months and I had spent four months already.
After the two months, I was released and that was supposed to be the end
of the case. On August 15, 2009, a week after I was released, I
received a call to pick up my green card and passport at the ICE BWI
Airport office on August 19, 2009, but surprisingly I was rearrested by
the same Officer Derrick who said they made a mistake to have released
me. I asked questions why I was arrested and they told me I would have
to see the judge again in three days. They locked me up for months.
While in detention at Worcester Detention Centre, Snow Hill, Maryland,
an ICE Officer, William Malone, told me I could be released but it was
going to cost me money. I told my lawyer about it who reported to Senior
ICE Officers. Malone was fired because it was discovered that he asked
me for bribe. We knew that he was a drug dealer and an addict. I suspect
that the authorities believed that we knew too much about Malone and
decided to torture me in particular.
Investigation was carried out during which Officer Michelle Rawlings
interrogated me and promised to get back to me, which she never did.
Afterwards I became the target for the officers. I was hospitalised on
July 12, 2010, at Atlantic Hospital for sinusitis and body weakness but
was discharged abruptly without adequate treatment. I was maltreated by
three officers, who flung me to an empty steel bed and I put in a
grievance report concerning the issue. In August 2010 I was moved to
Fredrick Detention Centre, Fredrick, Maryland, and same aggression was
repeated against my person. I was feeling vibration on my bed and
reported to the authority but no action was taken.
“On December 3 I was invited by the Chaplain Pastor John for Bible
study with two other detainees. And coming back from the Chaplain’s
office I felt strange movement in my umbilical cord and showed it to an
inmate, Mr. Al. We quickly approached the officers on duty to take me to
the medical unit but instead I was crushed to the floor by eight white
officers and my pants was opened and a chip, an electric devise used to
invade a person’s privacy and gather information about him and for the
purpose of causing harm to his person, was put in my anus. I screamed
but no one could help me. I was taken to another detention home where I
was asked to remove all my clothes and speak to a speaker which I later
learnt is voice sensor and as I am talking to you now, they are hearing
me in America. Anywhere I go in the world, through the chip in my body
and speaking to the voice sensor, they are monitoring me back there in
America. What they inserted in me is called electronic harassment and
once it is in your body, anywhere you go in the world, you are being
monitored.
Why would they do that?
America would not want a scandal. They know that we know too much
about what goes on in the jail houses, particularly about Officer Malone
and they don’t want it out. They believe that once they mess up with my
brain, I would be rendered useless but I give God the glory, I am okay.
They inserted the chip on December 3 2010 and since then, I’ve been
feeling a lot of strange movements in my body. I was arranged to see the
psychologist, Ms Jessica, who interviewed me and advised that I should
be sent back to the unit having seen nothing psychologically wrong with
me, but ICE refused. Also I was arranged to see the psychiatrist, Dr
Brian Simms, who said the same thing but I was still isolated. They even
lied that I was planning to kill myself and put me under suicide watch.
After all this, I made up my mind to drop the case and go back to my
country. They called the embassy and they discussed at length because
everyone at the embassy knew me because I used to play for them. When I
was given the phone, I opened up to them and pleaded that the officers
should be compelled to remove the chip they inserted on me. One of them
said, ‘nobody inserted anything on Jacob’s body, we don’t have such a
thing in America and it is even illegal to do that.’ About two days
after, they asked me dress up and I thought they were taking me to
Nigeria, they flew me to California, away from my people and every
contact that I had. I asked why I was in California, a six-hour journey
from Washington but I was lucky I spoke to about two black people who I
believed spoke about me to some sources. They put me in the midst of
retarded people and mentally challenged people. I refused all
medications to stay alive and in my senses. I was forced to take about
four shots but all I asked for was water in which I prayed and drank so
that all weapon fashioned against me would not prosper. They moved me to
a private treatment facility; still I refused to cooperate and
frustrated them even though they broke my back bone and I told the
doctor to respect the laws of America.
So, how did you get out?
I asked for voluntary deportation and departure and I expected them
to leave me alone without accompanying me to Nigeria. On February 24,
2011, I was told to pack and prepare to go back to Nigeria and I was
happy. When we got to the airport in California with two officers that
were with me and were about to board the plane, instead of passing
through the scanner, they bypassed it but I created a scene. They knew
that the scanner would expose the chip inside my body but I shouted and
demanded to go through the scanner. They felt embarrassed and agreed to
go through the scanner; meanwhile, they had spoken with the officer in
charge to deactivate the machine as soon as we were to be screened. I
protested and asked them why they did that. At the point of entry the
plane, I sighted our board passes and discovered that they wrote
‘Sullivan brain’ against my own. I later learnt that it means that I
should be treated on landing as a mentally deranged person. But instead
of flying straight to Nigeria, we flew through Ghana. And when we landed
in Ghana, our board passes were missing and we flew without any paper
to Lagos when they handed me over to immigration. I made report that the
two officers should be interrogated and be asked to remove what they
put in my system but they were left to go.
So after they brought you, what happened?
There was nothing because I was not a criminal. As I am talking to
you, my passport and green card are still with them in America. They
have no right to do that. I wrote a letter to the Foreign Affairs and
they said they are investigating. I have reported to the House of
Representatives through the Diaspora Committee headed by Abike Dabriri
but I suspect they have been intimidated. I have heard a lot of good
things about Dabiri but I am sorry, this time around, I am disappointed.
Abike said they were going to summon the US ambassador, she went there
on her own and I don’t know what they discussed. I had thought they
would summon the American envoy to explain why I was treated the way I
was treated. She called me one day and said she didn’t want to get
involved and that I could do whatever I wanted to do. I didn’t expect
that from someone that is supposed to represent me.
So what is happening to your health now?
The chip is still in my system and I feel torture daily. I have 24/7
headache and the only time I feel any relief is when a plane flies
overhead or when I am under the shower. I have written a letter to
President Obama to deal with the bad eggs among the immigrations. As I
am speaking with you, I am under torture.
Is it possible to remove the chip?
It is possible medically but we don’t have the technology in Nigeria.
Many doctors don’t even know anything about it, talk less of removing
it.
What of your family?
They are still in America. All my five properties have gone; I built
two and bought three. I have lost all my houses, my family have moved
out of my property. I was gainfully employed when I was rearrested. I
was making $25 per hour; I was a licensed realtor and at the same time I
was working with a big hospital in Baltimore. America is a land of
opportunity but the people involved in this are the people destroying
American society.
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