Located in the centre of Cotonou, the economic capital of the republic of Benin is situated "La prison civile de Cotonou" or 'PCC' as its fondly known,24 hours a day/365 days a year, the home of Ifeanyi Ofoukwu and Elendu Chukwu, Nigerian citizens of Igbo descent for the past nine years.If you haven't figured it out yet we are refering ...to the main prison for the city of Cotonou where these aforementioned Nigerians have been incarcerated since 2004 for an armed robbery alledged perpetrated in 2001 by some Nigerians and Beninois citizens.
The condition of their incarceration is an issue for the Nigerian government through their diplomatic mission in Benin, the Benin government and the human rights community to investigate.
Upon entering the main gates of the prison, there is a gendarmes(prison authorities) post comprising of one table,two wooden chairs and a rickety tv set.To the left is the entrance to the warden's office and to the right is where Messrs Ofoukwu and Chukwu have spent 24 hours a day for the last nine years of their lives.Mr Ifeanyi Ofoukou, fair skinned, muscularly built, approximately 35 years spends his time doing physical execises while his cell mate Mr Elendu Chukwu, pale darker greyish complexion, fortyish sits in his corner looking dazedly at the ceiling. This section of the prison commonly referred to as "condamne a mort" literally translated as 'condemned to death' is an approximately 6X8 room with a metal gate at the entrance, no windows and a tiny bathroom area located next to the military guards barracks.There is a small tv on the floor, two fans, a bucket of water and some mats on the floor.There is one light bulb to brighten up the room and the walls are littered with hung plastic bags containing their few belongings because there is no space on the floor for storage.This is a 'no go' area of the prison randomly used by prison authorities to punish other inmates for indiscipline and dreaded by the whole prison.For the most serious major indisciplinary actions, other inmates are sent to 'comdamne a mort' section for five days, so Mr Ofoukwu demanded me in his strained voice 'Oga imagine staying in this environment for nine years'. He continued by telling me that for the first three years after they newly arrived at the prison, they and 16 other inmates were guarded in another prison cell within the general population much smaller with no toilet facilities and because they had to come out every evening to throw the human waste, the prison authorities decided to move them to their present cell away from general population to assure they are locked up 24 hours a day.
I had the opportunity to meet with the assistant warden to inquire why the Nigerians were incarcerated in such conditions,he listened to my concerns and blatantly told me in french 's'il vous plait il faut laisser l'affaire la, nous meme, on les a trouve labas comme ca' loosely translated as 'please forget, we also found them there like that'. Mr Chukwu in eloquent english explained to me that upon their arrival, they were considered dangerous and a flight risk so they were never allowed to join the general population and every other new prison authority staff since 2004(changed after every 3 years) where briefed by the outgoing administration that they should be put in isolation.
Getting no resolution from the prison authorities, I went to the courthouse to find out from the judges who are solely responsible for the inmates at the prison,if they were aware, or if they instructed the prison authorities to incarcerate these Nigerians in isolation and under such conditions. I was told that the decision of the welfare of the prisoners were the affairs of the gendarmerie( prison guards) and DAPAS(prison administrators).
Messrs Ofoukwu and Chukwu were arrested in Nigeria in 2004 three years after the armed robbery incident in Cotonou,Benin.They were handed over by the interpol services in Nigeria to the benin authorities and eventually ended up at the infamous PCC.Their case is handled by the prosecution which in the Benin Court of first instance comprise of seven(7) 'cabinet de juges'(judge's offices) who do the preliminary interviews of defendants/plaintiff, investigations,confrontations between defendants/plaintiffs and in this case they represent the state who is the plaintiff.
Defendants are regularly brought in from PCC to the courthouse for further investigations,sign a financial bail, or get release documents from the prison and once within a six month period all inmates are presented to their assigned judge to sign and document each consecutive six months of incarceration(for which its reported the judges make 75000cfa per inmate every six months, an incentive to keep people longer in prison).
All the other co- defendants of messrs Ofoukwu and Chukwu in this case of Benin nationality have all been released except for the two Nigerians who in nine years have not been convicted for any crimes but locked up in such inhumane conditions. No decisions have been made in their case and for all its worth abandoned and forgotten.Mr Chukwu said they have not once been to court to meet their judge and discuss their case in five(5) years ' we go to court and sign six months with the greffier(secretary to the judge) and they return us to prison' so they sit in their room without knowledge of daylight or darkness and in case of electricity blackouts in the prison, 'we just stay in perpetual darkness and heat' he says. When i asked about food, they just eat now what and whenever the prison authorities give to them,they had a helper in general population who cooked food for them but that inmate was released so they say the extra voice who talked to them once a day when he brought them food is gone. 'We are not allowed any visitors,no contact with the world,its been only the two of us so we depend on each other' says Mr Chukwu. 'They will not even allow us to go to church within the prison' he says. 'There was an inmate pastor of the evangilical church who volunteered once in a while to live and pray with us in here for a couple of days but he also has been released from prison' says Chukwu.

Before my departure, Mr Ofoukwu in despair that i may forget about them like the others, wrote on a small piece of torn paper verbatim 'Our condition very bad here, we have eyes problem We cannot see any more.And body pains and weakness'
1) IFEANYI OFOUKWU
2) ELENDU CHUKWU'
A cry for help

I went to the Nigerian embassy and nobody seemed concerned.After sitting for two hours at the embassy reception it was closing time i was told. The diplomats who were standing at the recepiton area were busy verifying documents concerning payment of travel expenses for a trip they recently returned from. Nobody seemed shocked and i was even interrupted, its friday and the ambassador already left the office for lagos.
There are approximately 200 Nigerian citizens locked up and abandon in these Cotonou prison, no notice is given to their embassy,their families, nobody knows where they are. If a low level diplomatic mission like the Nigerian consular in Cotonou cannot resolves serious cases like this for nine years involving Nigerians, then what are they doing in Benin republic? what would high level missions like the U.S and EU embassies do? just abandon and neglect the welfare of Nigerians citizens in foreign lands?

This article was compiled after several visits and attempts to help these fellow Nigerians so 2014 is not their tenth anniversary under such conditions. I am just a concerned Nigerian who heard about these brothers, and this is not about innocent or guilty.I am a 'nobody' not Igbo with relations to these inmates but a Deltan, please don't justify these actions in any manner and do nothing. Once i heard, I have been to the prison, dealt with prison officials, guards and administrators, dealt with the Justice department and courts, dealt with the Nigerian embassy and like i said, am a nobody.
If you are a somebody please help these young sons and brothers and do something.
If we could do it for Alhaji Asari Dokubo, we can do it for Ifeanyi Ofoukwu and Elendu Chukwu.

If you don't know where or how to start helping. email me at : dbwresources@gmail.com

Happy New Year in advance

Can this really happen in Nigeria's next neighbour country?

OMG...pls MODs frontpage pls....FRONT PAGE......

...and our leaders will surely give account on the LastDay...

People are suffering in dead silence...and you are living on 1 Billion Naira food annually? Is this it? We really need help...Please Help them for God's sake...Please...Obasanjo ... GEJ..this is where God needs you most...not in the trading of abuse...he has given you a voice that you may help the voiceless...