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Tag: Kirikiri

  • ‎Eight babies, 9 pregnant women in kirikiri prisons

    Eight babies, nine pregnant women soon to put to bed, are ‎ among 222 inmates in the female section of Kirikiri prisons.
    This was disclosed Thursday by‎ the Director, Directorate of Citizens Rights (DCR), Mrs. Omotilewa Ibirogba who led an eight-man team of her department on a welfare check to the prisons and to donate toiletries.
    ‎
    Mrs. Ibirogba, while chatting with journalists after the visit, explained that the move was part of the efforts  of the state government‎ to decongest the prisons.
    Asked for the fate of the babies, she explained that once they attain 24 months, they would be taken from their mothers and handed over to their appointed relations so that they are not institutionalised.
    The prison which is over populated has 175 awaiting trials, 43 convicted persons, two on life imprisonment, while the remaining  two are condemned inmates.
    The director said their findings revealed that most of the inmates already have legal ‎representations and have been granted bails but have not been able to perfect such bail conditions.
    She said there are plans by her directorate to provide free legal services to those whose cases are not going on well in the court while applications would be filed in courts to vary bail conditions for those already granted bail by the courts.
    Contrary to what obtained in the past, Mrs.Ibirogba said the inmates looked neat, healthy, well fed and have no rashes on their body.
    “I am sure they now take very good care of them”, she added.
    Other members of the team are the Head, Community Service Unit of the directorate, Mrs. Shakira Kotun, Mrs. N.F. Utomi, Mrs. I.O. Adesina, Mrs. Monisola Niyi-Odewale, Miss Bimbo Fadeyi, Miss Adewale Oluwafikemi and Mrs. Adeola Adenike.
    They were received by an Assistant Controller of Prisons (ACP), Mrs. B.C. Nwaekwe.
  • ‘36.2 percent of Kirikiri prisoners are hypertensive’

    ‘36.2 percent of Kirikiri prisoners are hypertensive’

    About 36.2 percent of inmates currently undergoing jail terms in Kirikiri Federal Prison are hypertensive; a study conducted by Neimeth International Plc has shown.

    The study revealed that out of a sample of 69 inmates, only 25 inmates in the facility have low blood pressure.

    Neimeth Managing Director, Pharm. Emmanuel Ekunno while awarding three distinguished individuals in the country who have contributed to cardiovascular medicines, Thursday in Abuja identified need for massive campaign against upsurge of hypertension in the nation.

    He disclosed that the ailment has also spread to the juvenile which according to him led the organization to embark on free high blood pressure test in Lagos State.

    However, Ekunno stated that the awardee, Prof. Solomon Danbauchi, Prof. Basil Okeahialam and Dr. Damatris Osunkwo were conferred Fight the Good Fight Against Hypertension (FITGAH) Ambassador to advocate and counsel the public on ways to avoid hypertension.

    In the report titled Evidence Based FITGAH programmes, Ekunno said the campaign is a good fight that should be won in partnership with relevant stakeholders such as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the Federal ministry of Health.

    “FITGAH was designed to reduce hypertension and address its consequences including strokes, kidney damage and sudden death,” he said.

    In his remark, Danbauchi emphasized that the ailment is caused as a result of excess salt intake, obesity, stress among others.

    He listed ignorance, religious bias and poverty among other contributing factors.

    Describing hypertension as a silent killer, Danbauchi who is the Chairman, West African College of Physicians Internal Medicine noted that the ailment has no symptom.

  • Rifles, enemies, certificates and Kirikiri

    For many months, some vested interest groups, on realizing the imminent possibility of a successful Barack Obama candidacy for the presidency of the United States, sponsored the throwing of different arrows to puncture same. They either claimed that he was not a bona fide US citizen or was a Muslim, Kenyan or Indonesian or such inanities. Obama refused to answer those ‘issues’ and it was from him I first heard the phrase ‘silly season’ – meaning (in my view) the ‘hot’ period leading up to an election where people get so confused by a myriad of issues and personalities, that they will rather ‘cool off’ and enjoy more salacious jibes and mudslinging. In Nigeria there is no shortage of supplies of arrows and it will appear that even President Goodluck Jonathan whilst he detests ‘opposition’ and social media arrows, has his own arsenal and now fancies throwing a few himself. The problem with throwing arrows is that if an arrow is blunt no matter how poisoned or poisonous the thrower is, the target will suffer at most minor bruises and at times a backfiring may occur. Another problem I see is that Buhari like Obama being of similar frame provide very slim targets and often even the blunt arrow will miss the target!

    So an angry president in a fit of rhetorical soap box excitability, hollers– ‘when “they” were there how many rifles did ‘they’ buy for the military? ‘they did not buy even a single rifle!’ Does it mean that our President is of the considered view that a stock of rifles bought 30 years ago would have solved the insecurity problem? The criticism of the President on this matter goes beyond ‘buying rifles’ and is based on the non-exhibition of the desired empathy and demonstrable commitment to effectively being a Commander in Chief. It does not help when former President Obasanjo claims in My Watch that our President at least initially felt unconcerned because it was a ‘Northern’ problem. It does not help when highly audible international voices like Hilary Clinton pass a judgment of unseriousness on our President in the war against terror.  If it was a matter of rifles, the mountain of rifles seized or returned by the Niger Delta militants in exchange for an amnesty program may have gone a long way if transferred to the Nigerian Army. The current security challenges go beyond the buying of rifles or indeed shooting people with rifles. And even if shooting rifles is a component part of the war against terror, it is ammunition and not rifles that you need to keep restocking! The rifle buying arrow will have the effect of directing people’s minds to a comparative analysis of who might be better equipped as Commander in Chief to tame the insurgency. Buhari’s military background and demonstrable history of battlefield command successes, suggests it is not a comparison the president should invite. He would have been better off outlining concrete all-embracing plans to tame the insurgency including his touted Almajiri schools.

    Our amiable president, in Ibadan, a city famed for political enmities and violent political eruptions, hollered – ‘I have no enemies, I have no enemies I want to throw into jail!’ If that is an arrow aimed at drawing a distinction with Buhari, it represents a sadly mistaken reading of the mood of not only Ibadan people but of Nigerians generally. Nigerians need a president who is not afraid to make enemies. Nigeria has enemies, so why should our president not have enemies? All the locusts stealing Nigeria dry are enemies of Nigerians. All those election riggers and fixers who deny the people their democratic rights by stealing their sovereignty are enemies of Nigerians. The President needs to understand that in this battle for Nigeria’s survival, the friend of the peoples’ enemy is the peoples’ enemy! The concept of imprisonment is a long standing and pivotal ingredient of the rule of law required for cohesive social coexistence. There is no virtue in denying that fact or indeed in glorifying an attitude of condonation. Is the President saying that Boko Haram and the sponsors are not his enemies? Haba Mr President! These are the real enemies you need to have, not Rotimi Amaechi!

    So Buhari does not have School Certificate and he wants to contest against a PhD holder? A mismatch which should be evident to all and guarantee an easy victory for the PhD holder. So why the noise from the PhD holder’s camp? Why not go to court and have Buhari disqualified before or after the election and make the entire election a no-contest? Or could it be the case that the constitutional requirement is to ensure that aspirants to that office are educated up to at least secondary school level. If I was contesting for instance and I am eminently qualified to do so, and it is a fact that I have not bothered to collect my School Certificate from WAEC, am I doomed thereby? What if I swore to an affidavit that I am educated up to at least secondary school level and that I participated in the NYSC programme in 1985 (when Babangida overthrew Buhari!) but that I do not have the NYSC discharge certificate? Will evidence of my participation in NYSC not be sufficient proof of my education up to at least secondary school level? Having duly sworn to the fact of my educational eligibility on oath, is it not incumbent on any objectors to approach the NYSC to confirm or disprove my participation and hence educational eligibility? An aspirant to that office must also be above a certain age. I do not know but I suspect that our dear president does not have a Birth Certificate and therefore will have an affidavit. As it is silly season, if I start shouting that the president is below the minimum age and that he must produce his birth certificate to prove otherwise will I be taken seriously? Or will the retort be- how can someone who contested as Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President and President not have met the age requirement? Have his opponents or INEC or the general public been sleeping?

    Lest we mislead some of our people, the constitutional requirement for showing education up to a certain level is different from say the requirements for gaining admission into a university. In the latter case, the certificate and the grades matter because it is a competitive academic exercise. There is actually no constitutional requirement that you must have passed secondary school leaving exams! If that were to be the intention, what amounts to a pass would also have been clearly stated. Or is it the case that a certificate showing a parallel F9 result will suffice? In fact, in my view a testimonial from a secondary school that you duly attended the school till the end will suffice and so too will an affidavit in lieu of the testimonial. It may appear somewhat of a watery requirement and easy to meet and the wording is suggestive of that intention.

    Lastly, Kirikiri! Many years ago I travelled in company of friends to Gashua. Anytime I asked a resident to show me Gashua prison, they got irritable and I kept hearing ‘Gashua is not a prison’. Indeed it is not and residents of Kirikiri must feel the same way. Being home to a nice golf course and significant Navy base, President Jonathan need not read meanings to and take umbrage at ‘sending people to Kirikiri!  Indeed I am going to Kirikiri on my own volition this weekend – to play golf. If on my way there and if ‘God does not forbid bad thing’, I drive too fast and knock down an innocent pedestrian and still end up in Kirikiri, that will not be the fault of those whose duty it is to send me to Kirikiri. It will be my fault and nobody should cry for me! If the bad thing becomes so bad that I knock down and kill 10 people, that is more serious wahala (on paper). If the sentence by the judge is 30 years on each of the 10 counts, then my total sentence is 300 years! Running concurrently though the total prison time is 30 years! That is the way the law works and even in Buhari’s time! At the Lagos rally, an aide behind the President (can’t say who) whispered into the microphone, 300 YEARS! And the President collected the arrow and lobbed it!

    Mr President, you should only listen to a soldier when discussing rifles not law! If not your 300 arrows will miss the Bourdillon Road gathering place of your targets and end up in the nearby Lagos Lagoon!

     

    • Ukpong is a Lagos-based legal practitioner.
  • After 36 years in Kirikiri, man seeks pardon

    After 36 years in Kirikiri, man seeks pardon

    He was 19 when he got to the Kirikiri Maximum Prison in Lagos on November 17, 1978. Thirty-six years after, Steven Ojoko is still an inmate there.

    In 2001, former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu commented his sentence to life jail following which he was removed from death row.

    Ojoko, who hails from Bayelsa State, has grown grey hair in prison. He looks frail and wears a permanent scowl on his face. Pa Oldest as he is called by other inmates wants out and he is appealing to the Federal and Lagos State Governments to release him.

    “I have learnt my lesson”, he told our reporter who met him. Ojoko was sentenced to death in 1984 for armed robbery.

    He was a trainee photographer, with a primary school leaving certificate.

    “I don’t wish to die here. I have spent the most productive part of my life here. I appeal to the Government of Lagos State and the Federal Government to set me free and grant me pardon. I have learnt my lesson. This life has not been good to me,” Ojoko, who clocked 55 years old on June 17 said.

    Ojoko, who once lived with his parents in Lagos, said he was arrested on August 25 by the police, for armed robbery and was taken before an High Court in Ikeja, which remanded him in prison on November 17, 1978 pending his trial.

    On April 27, 1984, Justice I. O. Agoro (rtd) sentenced him to death.

    Seeking pardon on grounds that he has “changed”, Ojoko said.

    “Since I could not practice photography here (prison) because there are no facilities, I decided to learn other trades. I have since learnt how to make soap, cream and related products. I also know how to process snacks like fish roll, meat pie and all other products made from flour. When there are events here, I am asked to make the snacks that are served to guests.

    “I thank the former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who in 2001 converted my death sentence to life imprisonment. I am now appealing to the government of Lagos State and the Federal Government to give me total freedom. I promise to play my part in the society as a good citizen. I have learnt my lesson.

    “I hope to rely on the vocation I have learnt here in sustaining myself and helping the society when I am set free. So, I am pleading with the government to help me out of here. I have spent the most productive part of my life here.

    “I am 55 years now. I was born on June 17, 1959. I lost my parents during this crisis. Although my late father has a house in Lagos, I hope to return to Bayelsa State once I am pardoned and set free. My relatives live there,” Ojoko said.

    The Officer in Charge (OIC), Kirikiri Maximum Prison, M. O. O. Olaniran, an Assistant Controller of Prisons, confirmed Ojoko’s claim of being the oldest inmate in the prison, saying he has been there for about 36 years.

  • Photo: Lagos state chief judge frees Kirikiri inmates

  • Lagos CJ to review cases of ailing women awaiting trial

    The Chief Judge (CJ) of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, is set to review cases of women awaiting trial.

    Some inmates if the Kirikiri Medium Prison, are suffering from various ailments, including terminal diseases.

    Indication that the cases of the sick inmates would be reviewed was given during the recent visit of the state Chief Judge to the male and female sections of the medium security prison during which eight of the female inmates who are awaiting trials were set free while another 88 were freed in the male section , bringing the total to 96.

    The Chief Judge said that the health situation of the inmates was important and would be given priority attention and thereafter ordered the list to be handed over to officials of the OPD.

    The female inmates granted freedom by the Lagos Chief Judge in exercise of her powers under Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Special Provision Act CAP C40, 2007, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria are Mojisola Igbajo, Elizabeth Sampson, Taiwo Akinola, Bose Olude, Rebeca Ebiem, Rosemary Roberts, Iyabo Tiamiyu and Comfort Udeh, who is nursing a 17-month-old baby boy.

    The Deputy Comptroller General of the female wing, Mrs. Isioma Onwuli, told Justice Phillips that she made up a list of 16 inmates whose cases she pleaded with the chief judge for a review in view of their poor health.

    Mrs. Onwuli told the Judge that some of those on the list are suffering from killer diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, hypertension, diabetics among others and needed to have more space to get treatment and recover.

    Others, she said, committed lesser offences such as prostitution, stealing, breach of peace, assault, wandering, absence court among others.

    She said some of them have been in prison awaiting trial longer than they would have spent if their cases had been determined and they were convicted adding that they have stayed in the prison for between three and nine years without being to court at all.

    Although the prison built to accommodate 211 inmates has 207, Mrs Onwuli told the Chief Judge that the prison was too congested as the three cells it has are not large enough to accommodate the inmates, some of who have babies.

    She explained further that the prison also has four nursing mothers and nine babies, adding that they have been relying on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to care for the nursing mothers and babies as “the nursing mothers have to eat double rations”.

    Justice Phillips said the matter of awaiting trials and decongestion of prisons is close to her heart, and that those who were released were worth it.

    “When I was sworn in, I said I would look into prison decongestion and I meant what I said then. When I came in September, I released some of you but again your number has swell. But I would keep on doing it till I retire,” she said.