Mr.Jacob
Ajomale, a gospel artiste tells us 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.
Naij
