It is a case of hope renewed for Samuel Thankgod as he has been given his freedom after nine years and two months in prison custody on allegations of armed robbery in a case where there was no known complainant or proof of guilt. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that it was nine years of torture, false hope of justice and acceptance of being born under a bad sign until the Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR) took up his case and he gained his freedom.
For Samuel Thankgod, a farmer and timber loader, life had been a continuous cycle of uncertainty, despair and hopelessness for over nine years. Having been accused of armed robbery in a case in which he continued to claim his innocence without success, he had given up and accepted that it was his fate to die in custody at Igbeba Noncustodial Centre, without any court pronouncement on his innocence or otherwise.
Thankgod was arrested at J4 by the police on December 15, 2012 on his way from the farm and was consequently accused of armed robbery, leading to his remand in prison as an awaiting trial inmate for nine years and two months before his case was struck out after the court agreed to intervention that it was not going anywhere.
Getting respite after nine years was however not an easy feat or a leisure stroll for Thankgod as his family had tried all they could and had also become bankrupt in a bid to clear his innocence until Hezekiah Deboboye Olujobi, the founder of a nongovernmental body, Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR), took up his matter.
CJMR was on the case; filing all necessary processes until the case was struck out before Justice Asenuga of the Ogun State High Court 2 sitting in Ijebu Ode, after a long seemingly unending trial after his arraignment without any registered complainant before the court.
Though he was arrested in 2012, Samuel Thankgod’s case was not moving in any direction while he was kept behind bars as an awaiting trial inmate until CJMR first met him in 2019, during the Access to Justice Project; he was among the people recommended to the Chief Judge of Ogun State for due and fair consideration on the belief that he and several others ought not to be in perpetual prison custody for a case where he is unlikely to get a conviction.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, Olujobi said the foundation for the breakthrough in the matter came in January 2022 during a stakeholders’ meeting on jail delivery exercise when CJMR presented 25 cases of people in custody that had not been taken to court for years, including ThankGod’s, for review.
In his narration, Thankgod said he was arrested whilst returning from work around 6.pm in 2012 and was taken to Eleweeran, Abeokuta after being tortured for seven days at the police station and on March 12, 2013 he was arraigned in court along with someone he didn’t know and never met, even in the cell.
According to him, they never made any statement connecting them to each other or any business and nobody came to point at him or accuse him even while at the police station. He added that nothing incriminating was found on him at the time of his arrest.
“But true to God, I was beaten and severely tortured to confess to what I didn’t do,” Thankgod said.
However, his future became bleak when he appeared before the High Court in 2018, to learn of the death of his co-defendant. He wondered how he was made to stand for trial without any cogent complain or complainant and, with no identification parade conducted in the police station?
But on February 22, 2022, the matter was struck out based on CJMR’s intervention and Thankgod went home after spending nine years and two months in prison.
Speaking after the release of their son, ThankGod’s parents in Ijebu-Ode waterside were full of appreciation to CJMR, stating that they never knew they could still see their son alive.
Speaking on their efforts on the matter before CJMR’s intervention, his father said, “we tried our best but the lawyer who collected money from us stopped showing up and there was nothing we could do.”
Thankgod is not alone in this situation, Ibrahim Sarafa is another case of an individual that suffered for an offence he never committed.
Sarafa is a homeless boy who was arrested very early in the morning by a security guard who claimed he suspected him to be one of the armed robbers who broke into a phone accessory shop in Sabo, Ibadan in 2018. He was taken to the State CID and without any identification and charged for armed robbery. He appeared before the High Court in 2019 without any witness showing and while waiting for justice, Ibarhim Sarafa fell sick and had stroke.
This led to the presiding judge, Justice M.O Ishola, having compassion on him since there was no witness against him. However, the judge predicated the release on him being handed over to his relatives and Sarafa led the prison warders to his stepfather’s house in Akanran Ibadan.
But while the stepfather claimed he knew Sarafa as the first born of his late wife, he refused to show up in court to take custody of the boy and the judge, worried about the health of the young boy asked who could take up his case.
A lawyer who is familiar with the activities of the CJMR suggested the Centre for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation to the court and the court clerk contacted Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi because the centre not only runs a prison ministry but also has a Halfway Home.
Olujobi appeared before the court and Ibrahim Sarafa was officially released to him without any financial implication and he was taken to the hospital for medical checks and treatment.
Speaking on the challenges in the rehabilitating Sarafa, Olujobi described Ibrahim Sarafa as a collapsed building that needed to be rebuilt again. He explained that from the beginning, Sarafa’s state of health was a source of worry because his condition was deplorable as he could not walk at all and was taken to the dock with the aid of fellow inmates who carried him.
“He needed somebody, a caregiver to stand by him, carry him, bath him and take good care of him till his full recovery. He needs the care of a physiotherapist till he regains his health. Daily, Sarafa needs N12, 000 naira to put him on the part of survival in addition to the free bed space already given by a doctor that partners CJMR. We appeal to all well meaning Nigerians to help him. All donations shall be receipted,” Olujobi stated.
To render help, financial assistance can be sent to: Safe Ibrahim Sarafa with First Bank account: 2013454021. Centre for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation can be reached on 08025782527 or 08030488093.
Speaking on the spate of innocent people wasting away in custody, Olujobi lamented that, “Do you know that many people are in the prison over allegations of the crime they did not commit? The law presumes a suspect to be innocent until he is proven guilty. The question is how long will it take for someone to be proved guilty of the allegation of crime leveled against him? Some are in the awaiting trial for nine to twelve years without justice. Some die in the cause of waiting for justice as a result of lack of adequate medical attention. Ibrahim Sarafa is a good case study.
The case of Samuel ThankGod is a good case study of how common people are suffering, unjustly because they have nobody to speak on their behalf! The rich would always look for and find excuses to escape justice.
“Who will help the downtrodden; the poor man and woman who have been unjustly incarcerated to put their feet back in the society after all these brutality and incarceration?” Olubjobi asked.
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