A very touching story, read below
A shaft of pain knifed through his facial contours as
he recounted the grisly experiences he had in
prison for more than 23 years.
Prior to 1989, Calistus Ike had dreamt of becoming
a very successful business man.
Little did he know that he was going to spend seven
years as an awaiting trial inmate and another 16
years on the death row.
As the first son and bread winner of his family at
that time, Ike, had all his dreams quashed after he
was sentenced to death following his refusal to pay
N200 bribe to the policeman that investigated an
allegation against him.
Luck however shone on him when through the
intervention of a France- based human right group,
Avocats Sans Frontieres, ASFF, also known as
‘Lawyers Without Borders France’, the Edo state
government, pardoned him and approved his
release from prison in 2012.
Reliving the harrowing times he had in jail and
circumstances that led to his conviction with
Saturday Vanguard, this disconsolate erstwhile
death row inmate, insisted that he was innocent of
the allegation that left him at the mercy of the hang-
man, even as he called for a total overhaul of the
criminal justice system in Nigeria.
Describing himself as a “lucky-survivor”, Ike, who
is now in his early fifties, stressed that so many
innocent Nigerians are currently languishing in
various prison facilities across the federation.
“The unfortunate thing is that some of the people I
left in prison did not even have a case-file. Some of
them had stayed as ‘awaiting-trial’ inmates for
more than 10 years”, he lamented.
Narrating the story of his life, Ike said: “It happened
to me in the year 1989. I was resident in Benin, the
Edo state capital. There was a man that lived in the
same compound with me. His wife had stomach
problem and he asked me to lead him to somewhere
to collect a root (herbal medicine) for his wife.
We went there about 5pm. After escorting him to
the place where he collected the medicine, I
returned to my house.
The next day, I went to do my business. I did not
know that the same man had engaged police to look
for me and the other man that gave him the root, a
man I didn’t even know. When I heard that police
came to look for me, I inquired about the station
they came from and went there myself. ”I reported
myself and asked why they came to look for me.
They told me that there was an allegation that I
conspired with the man we collected medicine from
his house and broke into my neighbour’s house-
who was the same man I accompanied to get the
roots for his wife- and stole his properties.
I never knew that they had equally arrested the man
that gave us the root.
Thereafter, the policeman handling the case insisted
that I must write a confessional statement
otherwise he would deal with me. I refused to write
anything. I told him that I would only narrate the
exact thing that happened''.
”It was at that juncture that he started beating me
with ‘Koboko’. He flogged me mercilessly that day. I
was tortured until the D.P.O in charge of the station
asked him to stop and just take my statement.
After I gave them my statement, the same
policeman that flogged me, came back and said that
he could not find any evidence to pin the alleged
crime on me. He said that he had concluded all the
investigations and found nothing against me.
”However, he said I should give him N200 so that
he would drop the case and allow me to go home.
Remember, we are talking about 1989. As at that
time, that amount was big money to me.
So, I told him I had no such money to give out. I
stood my ground that I was innocent of the charge
and even asked them to take me to court if indeed
they thought that I had a case to answer.
Within two days, the policeman took the matter to
court. We went to court, at the Magistrate court, the
policeman freed the other man I was accused with
and pinned the whole charge on me.
”From the Magistrate court, he took me to the
Military Tribunal where the case changed overnight.
From the original allegation of ‘burglary and theft’, I
was charged with armed robbery.Whereas the
Policeman and that my compound man whose
properties were allegedly stolen, as well as his wife,
testified before Tribunal, I had no one to testify for
me. I was left with only God and no one else.
”After a long run of the trial, I was convicted and
sentenced to death for a crime I never committed or
even imagined. I never for once had such dream for
my life, but I was condemned to death.Nonetheless,
my faith in God never wavered, I kept asking him to
vindicate me. I was in death sentence cell in Edo
state for over 14 years. After then, I was
transferred to Enugu prison.
”One day, I was there, inside the prison with other
inmates when information got to me that there were
some people from France that were helping inmates
in Benin prison. I quickly called my brother and
asked him to take my plight to those people, maybe
they could help me to regain my freedom.
”By the special grace of God, within three months, I
was let loose from the grip of the wicked of this
world and I thank God for it. What I however want
Nigerians to know is that there is great level of
injustice in our judiciary and because of that, many
innocent people have died for crimes they never
committed.''
”Some of our lawyers are not helping matters. All
they are interested in is money. Some cases they
know they don’t have the capacity to handle they
will just force themselves into them and their
clients will be condemned and killed.
Before my very eyes, I witnessed executions that
took the lives of over 48 young and energetic men
and women . It is a painful thing to experience.
I was released in 2012. After I was arrested in
1989, I stayed as awaiting trial inmate for seven
years, and stayed on death row for 16 years.
My case did not go up to the Supreme Court. It was
tried by the military tribunal so I didn’t even have
the opportunity to go on appeal.
”My experience in the prison was very traumatic.
That place is hell on earth! Some of the prison
warders are very wicked- even though there are
some good ones too. The bad ones are tormentors.
They torment inmates at will.
The food inside there is nothing to write home
about. Roofs of some of the cells leak badly when it
rains.
Getting good medication is rather a luxury too big to
imagine, except in critical cases or upon an order of
the court.
In the prison, every inmate is left to his own fate.
Inmates are suffering badly even the awaiting trial
inmates too.
”It hurts me when I see them on TV claiming that
they are reforming the prisons. I am telling you
today that they are doing nothing. Anyone that is so
convinced that our prisons are better now should
volunteer and spend a weekend inside any of our
prisons. The hardship inside there is better
imagined than experienced.I saw hell!
If the government gets up now and say they are
reforming prisons, they are doing nothing! I am
saying this because I experienced it for 16 years on
the death row”.

http://theparot.com/news.php?id=970&news=Man+spends+23years+in+prison+for+allegedly+failing+to+bribe+policeman

God Almighty!
What wickedness!

Akoba adaba
Olorun maje a ri ooo