A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, yesterday remanded Clinton Doneh for allegedly assaulting his own father, Chief Roland Doneh.
The 30-year-old suspect reportedly assaulted his father at Elekahia Housing Estate in Port Harcourt Local Government Area at 9 p.m on September 9.
He was charged with four-count charge bordering on assault and threat to life.
The prosecutor, Inspector Wilson Isaiah, told the court the suspect violated sections 86, 451, 355 and 390(9), of the Criminal Code Cap 37, Volume 2, Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria, 1999.
Clinton pleaded not guilty to the charges and he was not represented in the sitting by any lawyer.
The documents obtained from the court showed that the suspect allegedly stole two stabilisers valued at N60,000, jewellery valued at N100,000, a generator valued at N85,000 and N28,000 cash, totalling N263,000, all property of his father.
The suspect’s father was absent in court.
The court’s document also alleged that the suspect “wilfully and unlawfully damaged his father’s ivory chain door valued at N50,000 and sat on his father’s body, hitting him on the ground”.
The magistrate, Sokari Andrew-Jaja, ordered that the suspect be remanded in prison custody.
He adjourned the matter till October 17 for bail consideration.
A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Friday sentenced three women to 45 days imprisonment for fighting and biting themselves in public.
The convicts, Amina Ishaq, 22, Praise Bassey, 29 and Mariam Soliu, 23, all of Paipe Village, Abuja, were arraigned on a two-count charge of disturbing public peace and causing harm.
The judge, Alhaji Inuwa Maiwada, however, gave the convicts an option to pay N3,000 fine each.
Maiwada advised them to live and maintain peace among themselves, saying the punishment would serve as deterrent to other would-be offenders.
The convicts had admitted committing the offence and urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Ifeoma Ukagha, had told the court that after the convicts finished fighting and causing harm on themselves, they went to Karmo Police Station to report the matter on Sept. 12.
Ukagha said that on that same date, the convicts sustained injuries on their bodies through bites and clawing.
“During police investigation, they could not give satisfactory explanation on what caused the fight,” he said.
Ukahga said the offence contravened the provision of Sections 113 and 244 of the Penal Code.
A Badagry Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday remanded a 34-year-old man, Musa Idris, in prison over alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Idris, whose residential address was not given, was arraigned on a four-count charge of rape, indecent assault, sexual assault and breach of peace.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, SP Akpan Ikem, had told the court that the accused committed the offences at about 2 p.m. on Aug. 24, at Zongo area of Seme Border, Badagry, Lagos State.
Ikem alleged that the accused had sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old girl in violation of Sections 168 and 261 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
“He did sexually touch the girl without her consent and violated Section 261 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
“Idris did indecently and unlawfully deal with the young girl without her consent and thereby violated Section 135 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
“Idris also did conduct himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace by sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl by having sex with her.
“This act violated Section 166 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, ‘’ the prosecutor said.
Ikem told the court that the offences committed were punishable under Section 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr Patrick Adekomaya, ordered that the accused be remanded in Badagry prison and adjourned the case until Oct. 3, for further hearing.
What gain is in pursuing a goal which in the end may be of no use? This is one question that comes to the mind when one learns of prisoners awaiting execution but pursuing Ph.D, master’s and other academic degrees in the university. Is it a worthwhile venture in their circumstances? INNOCENT DURU asks after a visit to the Kirikiri Maximum Prison in Lagos where he interacted with some of the condemned prisoners.
TUNWASE KABIRU, an inmate at Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos was crestfallen when a death sentence was passed on him three years after he was taken into prison custody. Many who knew him as a man who with a burning desire for education deemed the sentence the end of the road for his unbridled dream of acquiring higher academic qualifications.
Although he was distressed by the verdict, Kabiru did not see it as capable of truncating his educational ambition. Rather than brood over his situation, he vowed that if he would lose anything in life, it would not be his dream of acquiring higher degrees.
So, like a hungry lion sighting a prey, Kabiru jumped at the opportunity to go back to school when he found out there is a study centre of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in the prison. Today, he is studying for a PhD at the centre.
Going down memory lane in a chat with the correspondent, he said: “I was incarcerated in 2003 after a communal clash here in Lagos. I was charged for murder and condemned to death in 2006. The death sentence was commuted to life sentence in 2009.
“Before then, I had HND in Insurance and was a member of the Chattered Insurance Institute of Nigeria. I have always had the zeal to study. I was doing PGD (post graduate diploma) in Human Resources Management at Lagos State University (LASU) before I came into prison. I never thought there would be a school here.
“I enrolled for the PGD programme which I could not continue in LASU. I completed the programme in 2014 and enrolled for a master’s degree programme in Business Administration. It was after that, that I enrolled to start PhD in the same course.
“I was the best student in all the NOUN PGD programme across the country for both prison inmates and non-inmates in that academic session. I was duly recognised at an award presentation held at the National Museum, Iganmu, Lagos.”
Explaining why he did not allow his plight to extinguish his burning desire for higher education, Kabiru said: “If you feel you are in prison, then you are in prison. You can be in your house and still feel you are in prison. There are many of my colleagues who have not had additional qualifications after our HND programme. But here I am already studying for PhD. I have the firm belief that I will one day walk out of the prison to impact knowledge to the society. “Everything in life is a matter of perception. If I had thought that furthering my education in the prison would not be useful, I would not have registered in the first place.”
The PhD student said his interest in education is “purely about acquiring knowledge and not about the certificate. I know I am in prison. I am also aware of the stigma out there. But I want to make a difference by being able to defend the certificate that I am acquiring.
“I used to be a teacher and director of studies here. I was teaching the primary school Mathematics as part of my contribution to the academic development of fellow inmates. I have moved to higher responsibility as I am now the chaplain of Liberty Chapel. I counsel inmates on self-development.
My only daughter is pursuing her master’s degree now. I have the support of my family. On the award ceremony day in 2014, they were there to support and encourage me.”
Asked how he felt the day a death sentence was passed on him, Kabiru said: “I was sad when the death sentence was passed. I thought it was finished because of how prison is perceived out there. Everyone in prison gets downcast. Even the most hardened criminal becomes downcast when a sentence is passed.
“So much has changed between the time I came to the prison and now. I am not the same Kabiru. I have been transformed and reformed.”
When the hunter became the hunted
Another inmate and master’s degree student, Alegbe Afolabi, is a former police officer. When he left for work on November 25, 2005, he did not have any premonition that he would not return into the warm embrace of his family at the close of work.
As a law enforcement officer, he had been arresting and prosecuting suspects. But on that fateful day, he became a victim of what he had been legally doing to people caught on the wrong side of the law and ended up in prison where he has spent 13 years.
But why would a law enforcement officer going about his legal duty end up in the prison?
Alegbe explained: “I have been here in the prison since 2005. I was a policeman attached to Isheri Division, Ojodu Berger, Lagos. I served as a police officer for 16 years before the issue that brought me to prison came up. I was a sergeant then.
“My journey to prison started on November 25, 2005. I was on duty with three other officers on that fateful day. At about 3 am, our operational vehicle developed a mechanical fault and we had to push it back to the station. But while waiting for the people on morning shift to come and take over from me at 6 am, I received a radio message that there was a robbery attack at Ojodu Berger.
“I moved immediately and met three other officers in the area where the incident happened. Being the most senior officer among them, I gave instruction that we should spread ourselves to different parts of the area.”
Alegbe recalled that shortly after they had positioned themselves, a vehicle on full speed started advancing from the direction where the robbery took place. “We tried flagging down the driver, using our touch, but he failed. Before I knew it, he rammed into me and hit my left leg.
“We subsequently shot at his tyre to make him stop. When the vehicle stopped, the driver came out crying, ‘MOPOL has killed my brother!’ He started calling for assistance from area boys. I asked my men to go back to the office and reinforce.
“By that time, it was about 6 am. Before I knew it, the area boys came and tried disarming me. I narrowly escaped and jumped on a waiting motorcycle that took me out of the place to the office. I was thereafter arrested and taken to Panti from where I was taken to court and charged for murder. I spent 11 years awaiting trial before I was eventually sentenced to death.”
Alegbe said although his conviction was devastating, instead of brooding over it, he saw the prison as a fertile ground to pursue his academic dreams.
He said: “All hope was not lost when I was sentenced to death. I was already in 400 level at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) centre here in the prison. The sentence did not deter me from pursing my academic dreams. Before I came to the prison, I had diploma in Cooperative Economic Studies. Now I have BSc in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution and I am studying for a master’s degree.
“I decided to study the course when I sat in my prison cell and ruminated over the myriads of problems in the society. At the end, I settled for the course, hoping that if I regain my freedom, I would use my knowledge to proffer solutions that will not require force to resolve some of these problems.”
Explaining why a death sentence would not end his academic dreams, Alegbe said: “I believe that with the help of God and faith in the judicial system, I will regain my freedom. I do encourage other inmates to further their education. I teach the inmates in secondary school Commerce and Accounting. This is one of the things I want to do when I regain my freedom. I want to impact knowledge.
“I am married with four children. My wife and my children feel sad each time they come to visit me. The children always ask when I would be coming home. Even at that, they are consoled by my academic achievement in the prison. My wife and my children encourage me.”
•Prison inmates during their matriculation in Ogun State
Fulfilment even in death
The correspondent’s encounter with Nwomuh Chika, who was about to complete his studies for BSc in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, sparked some emotions. Although he has a death sentence hanging on his neck, the former secondary school drop-out said after achieving his academic dreams, he would be a fulfilled man even if the death sentence is not quashed and he is eventually hanged.
He said: “The thought of death sentence weighs me down, but I have continued to press forward, believing that there is gain in my pain. If tomorrow the death sentence is carried out, I will be fulfilled that I made use of the opportunity I had to acquire higher education. I am happy for it. “But no condition lasts forever. I hope to be free one day to impact on the society positively than I left it. Right now, I have been telling fellow inmates about the beauty of education. I teach the inmates in secondary school as my contribution to their academic development.”
Chika said he was only a secondary school drop-out when he came into prison but was about completing his first degree.
“Precisely, I dropped out in JSS 3. While awaiting trial, I was always reading novels in my prison cell. One day, a fellow inmate said if I had been in a prison where there was facility to further my education, I would have been in the university. I prayed about what he said and as fate would have it, I was sentenced two weeks after and moved to the prison in Abeokuta which had Yewa College of Education at that time.
“Shortly after, an inmate who was transferred from Lagos to Abokuta saw me reading and suggested that I should seek transfer to where I could get higher education. I applied and it was granted. That was how I came here and went back to continue from SS 1.
“From SS1, I got to SS3, wrote GCE and passed. I was subsequently admitted to NOUN. My project topic is on Evaluation of Capital Punishment and Its Effectiveness in Combating Crime. I submitted three topics but Dr. Bolarinwa of NOUN chose the one I am working on now.
“I am in my final year now and already writing my project. I was charged for robbery in Ondo State in 2005 and sentenced to death by hanging in 2010.”
In spite of the progress he is making academically, Chika said his penchant for reading has made him an object of ridicule among his peers.
“I do read in my prison cell, but some inmates always try to discourage me by saying if I loved book so much, how manage I became a prisoner? But I am determined to give education all it takes.”
Motivated by fellow inmates
The chance to go back to school has kept Joel Ighalo, a death row inmate at the prison, going.
He said: “I was charged with robbery, awaited trial from 2003 and sentenced to death in January 2007. I am currently pursuing a BSc degree in Political Science. I was a secondary school drop-out. I started from JSS class when I came here and moved all the way to the senior class from where I wrote GCE and thereafter got admission at NOUN.“
“I sat the GCE twice before I could make my papers. My fellow inmates motivated me to further my studies. They saw that I am eloquent and encouraged me to go back to school. I lost courage before and after I was sentenced, but the motivation of my colleagues helped me. I am happy because I have access to the library and resource materials here in the prison.”
Ighalo added: “My family members have been very supportive. They bought the GCE forms for me and brought food and drinks on my matriculation day. Aside encouraging my fellow inmates to go back to school, I am also the soul winner chairman. I move from one prison cell to the other to minister to inmates.”
On his part, Francis, who said he dropped out of primary school before returning to school in the prison said: “I was charged for drug trafficking and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009. Before coming to the prison, I had a
Some 78 female inmates of a jail in India’s financial capital have been hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning on Friday, hospital dean said.
“The prisoners of Byculla jail were rushed to the state-run J.J. Hospital when they complained of stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea a few hours after having their breakfast in the morning,’’ Mukund Tayade told newsmen.
Tayade added that the hospital has, however, confirmed the admission of the prisoners.
“Seventy-eight patients have so far been admitted to the hospital.
“Though a few more are likely to be brought to the hospital.
“However, none is in serious condition,’’ Tayade noted.
A high-level probe has been ordered into the incident.
This is the second such incident in the past three months.
Two prisoners died and over 50 had to be hospitalised for diarrhoea due to suspected food or water poisoning in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh in May.
Some critical facilities at the Owerri Prisons including the perimeter fence, administrative building and inmate cells have been destroyed in the Friday night rainstorm that wrecked havoc in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
The development has heightened fears of possible security breach in the Prison which has been grappling with challenges of congestion.
Some of the Prisoners according to an insider source who preferred not to be mentioned, have been forced to sleep in the open after the roof of the main Prison building was pulled off by the windstorm that accompanied the rain.
Also damaged were the Welfare, Works and Records Offices, as well as the building housing the Logistics and Chief Disciplinary Officer.
Public Relations Officer of Owerri Prison, Mr. James Madugba, said that the incident was devastating, even though no life was lost.
He said that the rainfall uprooted a tree, which fell on the building housing the administrative block and the Armed Squad.
According to him, “We never expected the incident because it happened in the night. This was also why we did not record any deaths because if it were in the day time, the story would have been different”.
He added further that many of the officials were displaced from their offices while efforts are on to provide alternative offices for them.
A PLATEAU State High Court sitting in Jos has remanded former Governor Jonah Jang, in prison pending ruling in the bail application over alleged corruption and misappropriation.
The judge, Justice Daniel Longji, gave the order after listening to the arguments and submissions of both defense and prosecution counsels.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on Monday May 7, arraigned Jang on a 12- count charge bordering on alleged corruption and misappropriation.
Jang, who is representing Plateau North Senatorial District, is alleged to have misappropriated over N6.3 billion, two months to the end of his tenure, as governor of Plateau in 2015.
Jang was governor between 2007 and 2015 – a period within which he allegedly misappropriated the said funds.
The senator, who was arraigned alongside Yusuf Gyang Pam by EFCC on a 12-count charge, pleaded not guilty to the counts.
According to the charges, Jang allegedly embezzled over N4 billion from the state coffers through Pam, a cashier in the office of the Secretary to the State Government.
Pam was alleged to have personally enriched himself with N11 million.
The prosecution counsel said the offences contravened Section 315 of the Penal Code.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The defence counsel, Robert Clarke, in a written application during the arraignment, prayed the court to grant his clients bail on self-recognisance as a two-time governor and a serving senator.
He said if the bail was granted, his clients would not jump bail but would be available at all times for trial.
But the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, urged the court to refuse the application for bail.
He cited Section 341 (2) of the 1999 Constitution and argued that an offence which attracts an imprisonment of more than three years was not bail-able offence.
Jacobs added that the offences alleged to have been committed by the defendants were serious and, therefore, should not be granted bail.
He submitted that with Jang’s military background, if granted the bail, would intimidate witnesses and use his influence to scare them away.
According to Rotimi (SAN) Sections 36(5), which provides that everybody who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty, is not in line with the law that governs the criminal prosecution against Jang and Pam.
He said: “Any offence that exceeds three years should not be treated as ordinary and presumable for bail.”
But after listening to arguments of both parties, Justice Longji said he would need enough time to analyse the arguments for and against the bail application in comparison with the charges.
He, therefore, adjourned the case to May, 2018 24 for ruling on the bail application.
He said: ‘There is a situation here where the Law becomes an axe. I have not studied the charges and I cannot use my personal knowledge of the accused person(s) to ask him to go on bail.
“They should be remanded in prison custody pending the ruling on his bail on Thursday next week.”
it is not clear what treatment Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, aka Evans, expected in prison. But it is clear that what he is getting is not what he imagined. He is facing trial for alleged high-profile kidnapping and may not understand that life in prison is no picnic.
Evans was at the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere on May 7. He reportedly complained to the judge: “Since I have been in the maximum prison, they have been maltreating me; no visit, they don’t feed me well, I have eye problem and I cannot see far.”
At a point, Evans reportedly broke down in tears. He cried: “What have I done to you people? They have been beating me; no good food; I have been locked up in one place since August 30 last year. Why are they taking my case personally? Let me face my trial alive. Why do you people want to kill me?”
News of his arrest on June 10, 2017, at his classy home at Magodo, Lagos, had elements of a thriller. The police described him as “the most brilliant, richest and craftiest kidnapper in the country’s history.” Evans, a native of Umudun, Nnewi, Anambra State, was arrested about three weeks after the announcement of N30m bounty by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for information that could lead to his arrest. He had been on the wanted list of the police in three states, Edo, Anambra and Lagos, for over four years; and police interest in him had been renewed by his alleged involvement in the abduction of Innocent Duru, the owner of a multi-national pharmaceutical company in Ilupeju, Lagos.
Evans told the story of how he “decided to start kidnapping rich men for ransom.” In 10 years, he acquired a reputation as a high-profile kidnapper. He made a lot of money from his captives. He always demanded huge ransoms, usually in foreign currencies. He lived large.
Then he fell. A report said: “Evans and his gang met their waterloo with the kidnap of billionaire pharmacist Innocent Duru, who they wanted to kill after collecting a ransom. The victim was with the kidnappers at 21 Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, Lagos, for over five months. He eventually escaped and gave the police the information which led to the busting of the gang.”
It is interesting that prison officials reportedly maintained that Evans was being given the same treatment as other inmates. He should stop weeping and face the reality of his trial.
A 33-year-old jealous lover, Lukman Madotti, who allegedly poured acid on his fiancee, Toyin Muyiba, was on Wednesday arraigned before an Ebute Metta Magistrates’ Court for attempted murder.
His plea was, however not taken at the court and was remanded in Ikoyi Prisons.
The Police Prosecutor, ASP Clara Adegbayi, had told the court that the offence was committed on April 9 at 6.00 a.m. at No. 11, Alhaji Lasisi St., Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos.
According to her, the jealous lover poured acid on Muyiba, 20, whom he had accused of flirting around.
The offence contravened Section 230 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The offence attracts life imprisonment, according to the provisions of the Criminal Law.
The Magistrate, Mrs O.A. Olagbende, who gave the order, said the accused should remain behind bars pending advice from the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
A COURT in Abuja has ordered that a brother to Senator Dino Melaye, Samuel Melaye and three others be remanded in Kuje prison, Abuja for allegedly aided the Senator to jump off a moving police van.
The others are Amaefula David, Pius Inyang and Mohammed Wazari.
The order for their remand in prison was made after their arraignment before the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Mpape, Abuja on a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the police.
The FIR linked them to the Tuesday’s incident at Area One, Roundabout, Abuja, where Melaye reportedly jumped off a police vehicle that was said to be conveying him to Lokoja (Kogi State) where he was to be arraigned before a court on a pending charge.
In the FIR, the defendants were charged with criminal conspiracy, obstruction of public servant from performing his lawful duties, abatement and assault on police officers, offences said to be contrary to sections 97, 85, 267 and 173 of the Penal Code Law.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges when the FIR was read to them on Wedensday.
Their lawyer Nkem Okoro, from the law firm of Mike Ozekhome (SAN), applied orally for bail for the defendants.
The police objected to the bail application, following which the presiding magistrate adjourned to April 30 for ruling.
Melaye’s brother and others are said to have been arrested by the police at the hospital where Melaye was admitted after the incident.
They were also alleged to have “jointly conspired and attacked a team of police officers from the office of the Inspector-General of Police S.T.S FHQ, Abuja while conveying Senator Dino Melaye to the court in Lokoja, Kogi Statein Area One Roundabout, Abuja”.
The police also alleged that the defendants “whisked the suspect (Melaye) away to an unknown destination.”
