ON Thursday, September 28, 2017, FCT Chief Judge, Justice Ishaq Usman Bello visited the Suleja prisons in Niger State. The visit was not a routine one; it was meant to decongest the prisons in the territory by looking into cases of inmates who had been incarcerated over matters that should not have brought them there in the first place.
One of the unfortunate inmates was a two-month pregnant woman, Deborah Joseph. She had been detained in the prison on the allegation of eating a dead chicken. Telling her story to the FCT CJ, Deborah said she did not steal the chicken and that it was actually given to her by one of the worker in the poultry farm who probably took pity on her for her poor condition.
Despite the fact that the chicken was dead, she took it and ate but it was literally a poison for her as she was later arrested for stealing by the son of the owner of the poultry farm. To underscore the reason for arresting her, she was told that the farm was no longer disposing dead chicken but that they are being used to feed the fish in the farm’s ponds.
Despite the fact that she was pregnant at that time she was remanded and remained there until Justice Bello’s visit. Her case, described by the CJ as pathetic caught the attention of the visiting team. She was subsequently discharged because according to the CJ, the prosecution was no longer interested in the case.
Deborah was not the only beneficiary of the CJ’s visit. Fatima Salami, a final year student of Geology and Mining, Nasarawa State University, was another. Like Deborah she did not deserve to be in prison in the first place. She is asthmatic, but was being prosecuted for felony and inflicting serious body injury, at the FCT High Court, sitting at Bwari.
She had only a semester to go in school before her travails began. Her story was that she had a boyfriend when she was in her 100 Level, who she later broke up with on the ground that she was not interested in marrying him. The man prevailed on her to reconsider her stance but she stood her ground.
According to her, the man then threatened to punish her and ensure that she did not complete her studies. He succeeded; well, almost, because had it not been for the visit of the CJ, she might have remained in custody for much longer. Meanwhile her mates in school had since graduated and finished their youth service.
Shocked with her unexpected freedom she suffered an asthmatic attack right in the presence of the visiting judges.
It was a similar story at Kuje prison where 82-two year-old Pa Nicholas Ike was incarcerated. Pa Ike must have seen the best and the worst sides of life. He would probably not forget the experience of the last 12 years of his life. Indeed, he may have to carry the memories to his grave. Both he, and his younger brother, Albert Uche, were convicted and sentenced to jail for criminal breach of trust.
After being moved from prison to prison, the duo landed again at the Kuje medium prison in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on June 1, 2017, having previously spent five years there. Their trial, according to the old man, lasted 12 years. Like others before him, freedom came knocking during the CJ’s visit.
By the time Pa Ike told his story the CJ was moved. In the course of his travail, he had lost his wife, spent five years in prisons before being eventually convicted. As of the time of the visit, he could no longer eat well, probably due to old age. His younger brother, Albert, was, however, not lucky as Justice Bello declared that he could not release him but would make recommendation to the committee on prerogative of mercy headed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to consider his case.
The case of septuagenarian, Emeka Ebile, another inmate was however difficult for Justice Bello to handle. He (Bello) was the trial judge who convicted Ebile before he became the CJ of the FCT and was thus skeptical about public perception of the situation should he release Ebile.
However, after conferring with other judges in his entourage, Justice Bello declared, “I am prevailed upon by the opinion of my brother judges that since he has fulfilled one of the conditions upon which I can free him, which is old age, I hereby discharge him.”
An elated Ebile could not hide his joy as he prayed for the CJ and his brother judges while expressing appreciation for his release.
Three teenagers whose ages range from 13 to 17 were also set free, as the CJ insisted that they were not supposed to be in prison in the first instance being minors, who under the Penal Code Law could not commit any offences. The teenagers were Abubakar Ismaila (13); Sulaymaniyah Daudu (16) and Ali Musa (17). Justice Bello, however, urged judges to always take note of the ages of the accused person brought for trial in court before making remand orders.
For the trio of Wasiu Azeez, Gabriel Jubril and Ibrahim Haruna who were being tried for conspiracy and had spent three years in Kuje prison, the CJ’s visit was a good omen for them as they were released for lack of diligent prosecution. Having requested the status of their case from the police prosecutors in the visiting team and they all claimed ignorance of the case, the Chief Judge stated that, “it is obvious that the entire police prosecutors here are not aware of the case. It is inhuman to have kept them here for three years. Accordingly, the suspects are hereby discharged.”
One Ubong Timothy, who was being arraigned for conspiracy, was also discharged having spent two years and four months in the prison. According to Justice Bello, even if Ubong had been properly convicted for the offence committed, he would be given a three-year jail term. Therefore releasing him at that point in time was in order.
Another inmate who had already spent the maximum number of years behind bars for issuing a dud cheque was one Chinyere Ekanem. His punishment for the offence was two years behind bars. Already he had spent two years and so according to the CJ deserved to be released.
Two women and three men also breathed the air of freedom at the old Keffi prisons in Nasarawa State, as the CJ’s team made its last stop on the special prison tour.
As the team made their journey back to base, several inmates at the prisons and others probably not visited are crying for freedom, hoping that one day their turn to be free would come. Many were not supposed to be in prison at all, many had been punished already with the number of years already spent behind bars.
But the irony of the whole thing is that as the decongestion team moves round, those released are being replaced by the system that constantly put people behind bars even for the most flimsy of offences.
and then