On 17th of July 2020 I left my base to Ekwulobia for a court case involving Mr Dim Chikezie and five other accused. I arrived the court some minutes to 10 o'clock Am. The accused ought to have sited in the court waiting for the Judge to arrive, but non was around, except these two inmates on blue uniform, with their hands handcuffed to each other. The court didn't sit because the judge was absent.
The court was adjourned once again like they have been doing from the inception of this case since nearly three years ago.
I got information that Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE Popularly known as OKPOLE was in that same court a day to 17th, together with some of the lawyers in charge of the case. What he was there to do on a day Lawyers went to apply for bail application, no one knows. But the case was once again adjourned till September 25th.
I left the court with Mr Dim Jimeto Chinazam the brother to one of the accused and we headed to Ekwulobia Prison to see the inmates.
The prison looks dirty and unkempt. The prison wardens were in high spirit. I was told if we didn't grace their palms, we can't see the inmates. I saw them extort money from my companion. You will pay at the gate and also at the entrance to the prison. After all the ugly rituals that made Nigeria what it is, the inmates came to meet us. They appeared cheerful and in high spirits. But immediately I started talking to them, all the cheerfulness made a dash and left them.
What do you think made your case not to hold today in court? I asked them. They all said they don't know, or something that sounded like that. Don't you think something is wrong somewhere? How is it that since close to 3 years you all are held in prison, it has been adjournments upon adjournments. Is something not fishy? I probed further. Immediately, their facial outlook changed. They seemed to have taken a swift flashback and noticed same thing. It couldn't have been a coincidence that their hearing always get postponed for more than 2 and half years now. Somebody is definitely pressing some buttons.
They told me how their accuser made it to the prison the day the Judge came for prison visit. Judges do visit the prison at intervals. They use their visit to decongest the prison. Some people do get instant release. So I was told. What brought Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE alias OKPOLE to that prison that very day can only be imagined.
I wanted to hear from the inmates why and how they were arrested and imprisoned. It was a story of human rights abuses. A terrible story at that. Dim Chikezie, an inmate told me how he was sleeping in his father's house with his mother on 16th of February 2018 and there came this bang around 2pm in the night. They first thought they were armed robbers. When they couldn't open the door, they climbed into the roof from the ceiling, got to the room and jumped in, destroying their ceiling. That was how all of them were rounded up and arrested that night in similar fashion.
Two or three days earlier, some thieves have gone to the house of Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE and made away with his properties. Mr CHUKWUJEKWU is an Onitsha based business man. He also plays politics. Those that knew him very well told me he is a staunch member of PDP. He constantly brags of his connections with Arthur Eze to the villagers who sings his praises. Mr CHUKWUJEKWU is literally worshiped in his village. The kings and cabinets honours him. He didn't fail to extend his philanthropy to Ikenga people during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr CHUKWUJEKWU needed to show example with some people. He went to the village security, who immediately brought forward names of some vulnerable boys as suspects. Ikenga vigilant went for children of widows and orphans. Three of the boys were orphans, while the remaining three are children of widows and a single mother. They needed those that can't put up a fight and these boys became appropriate. Their crime is being no bodies in Ikenga, where there are rich men like Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE.
Mr CHUKWUJEKWU used Ekwuloba SARS to get the unfortunate boys arrested. At first, in Ekwuloba, they were charged with Break and Enter. Statements were made and the boys denied any knowledge of the incident. But it seems their accuser is out to deal with them.
They were moved from Ekwuloba SARS to Awkuzu SARS. That was exactly where they saw hell. According to Chikezie, one of the accused, no one can survive that torture. Hanging they called it. Virtually all of them in the SARS net accepted they stole the property as the result of the grievous torture. Chikezie even told me how he told them the entire property was packed inside their house. When SARS took him to their house and recovered nothing, he received another round of beating right their in his late father's house.
Chikezie who works as a Mason is now being paraded as a common thief. The popular opinion in Ikanga is that Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE allegedly went to a certain native doctor in Nsukka who said it was these boys that stole the missing properties.
Mr Chikezie Dim showed me his shoulders, how they were broken. He showed me his wrists, they are making kron-kron sounds as he rotates them. A sign they were still broken. Right there in Awkuzu SARS, they were so tortured that they couldn't walk with their legs. Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE gave order that anyone that came for them should be arrested. That was how one of the mothers of the inmates, a single mother was detained in SARS for one night. To avade the human Rights personnel that do visits Awkuzu SARS at intervals to make sure no one stays there pass two weeks, SARS will always take the accused to other places, only to bring them back whenever the human rights personnel must have gone. These boys stayed in Awkuzu SARS for 6 weeks before they were reminded in prison. They were forced to sign a plain sheet each as their statement.
It means that their accuser together with the SARS wrote their statements. This I was made to understand, is not new to those that have had encounter with Awkuzu SARS.
One of them that was arrested were released in Awkuzu before they were taken to prison in 2018. They said he is innocent. How they determined his innocency and found others guilty is what I can't tell.
When Mr CHUKWUJEKWU NWOKEKE found out that the Charge of Break and Enter won't take the boys to prison, he manoeuvred his way and smuggled in Armed Robbery charge. The only court they attended till this day was the sitting that reminded them in prison. It has been adjournment upon adjournment.
The questions begging for answers are...
How is it that these six boys have been in prison without the court hearing their case?
Who is behind the numerous adjournment being suffered in this case?
If indeed they have evidence against these boys, why are they evading court hearing using dubious adjournment?
Why are the lawyers handling this case not worried about the numerous adjournment?
Why was the charge of Break and Enter changed to Armed Robbery?
How come these so called Armed Robbers were arrested in their different homes?
How did they come to know it was these boys that stole the properties?
How come they released one of them during their days in Awkuzu SARS, and held onto these six?
How is it that the only people arrested where sons of widows, single mother and orphans? A coincidence or what?
Are the six accused not entitled to fair hearing?
Personally, I think this is purely a case of rascal intimidation. A rich man wants to intimidate people he thinks he can put away without anyone blinking an eye.
I therefore call on Human Rights lawyers, Activists, Amnesty International, Journalists and good people of the world to rise up and help these boys not just to regain their freedom, but get adequate compensation for this illegal imprisonment.
Take action. Share and Make it go viral.
Elochukwu Ohagi is an Activist who have helped a lot of people to tell their stories of injustice done to them.
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