The family of Eric Parfait Djomeni, goalkeeper of Victoria United Football Club popularly known as OPOPO has filed a lawsuit against Valentine Nkwain, the club’s president. They accuse the Limbe-based business magnet of alleged kidnap and torture of their son in a controversial match-fixing scandal.
According to a copy of the complaint making waves on social media, the Djemeni Yannick & Partners law firm is at the forefront of the case channeled to the General, Commander of the Second Gendarmerie Region of the Littoral Region on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
The complaint accuses Nkwain of kidnapping and torturing Djomeni for four days for placing bets and causing the team to lose two games in a row.
This comes a few hours after Victoria United posted a video on social media denying all allegations against them.
The video features the goalie rubbishing the rumors and saying he is doing great. The captain also speaks and claims it is a happy family.
The video is accompanied by a communique bearing the same message of total serenity at the club while decrying malicious attempts to soil their reputation.
What really happened?
Disturbing information surfaced on social media on Monday indicating that the President of Limbe-based club, OPOPO, had taken the law into his hand after failing to get desired results from the prosecutor’s office.
After recording two consecutive losses, Valentine Nkwain reportedly claimed to have enough evidence that his goalkeeper was involved in match-fixing.
So he took the case to the prosecutor, but lack of evidence forced them back home.
He also reportedly summoned the player’s parents on Friday, February 21. However, she only turned up at his home in Limbe on Monday 24.
In the meantime, Nkwain supposedly detained and tortured the goalie. In a viral video clip on social media, a lady, who claims to be Djomeni’s mother, is being threatened to be thrown out of Nkwain’s compound if she can’t exercise patience. She’s heard weeping bitterly as she battles with the security men in the compound.
Reports accompanying this clip say she reportedly heard her son weeping to the rhythm of torture when she got to the compound. Thereafter, she found out that her son had scars of the torment on his buttocks.
These reports don’t agree with those suggesting she had been invited to a meeting about her son’s alleged misconduct. Instead, they assert that she couldn’t locate her son for days and decided to find out from the club’s president where she met the youngster in a terrible state.
What at the charges?
Less than 24 hours after the allegations, Victoria United released a video and a communique denouncing what they say is fake news.
When people thought the video and the communique had cleared the air, the Djemeni Yannick & Partners law firm released a copy of the case filed against Mr Nkwain.
For the allegations, they demand the implementation of the law on the accused. They are asking authorities punish the president of Victoria United as provided for in the Penal Code. Article 291 of the Code states that: “Anyone who, in any manner whatsoever, deprives another person of their freedom shall be punished with imprisonment of five (5) to ten (10) years and a fine ranging from twenty thousand (20,000) to one million (1,000,000) francs.
The lawyers further say Article 227(3) of the said Code should be applied on Nkwain’s case. The said Article states that if torture leads to the victim suffering a disease or inability to work for more than 30 days, the perpetrator can be sentenced to imprisonment ranging from five to ten years, alongside a fine between 100,000 and 1,000,000 francs.
“Therefore, by this letter, we are bringing this matter to your attention so that appropriate measures may be taken to ensure justice is served,” the lawyers concluded.
Nkwain was not reachable for comments at the time of this report, but he is not new to controversy.
