A 40yr old man identified as Effiong Elemi-
Edu has narrated how he was imprisoned
for 15 years for the murder of politician,
Alfred Rewane, which it was later
discovered that he was not to involved in.
Narrating his ordeal to Aljazeera, Effiong
who is from Cross Rivers, said on October
6th 1995 in the Ikeja part of Lagos state, he
had gone out to buy suya for himself and
his wife when suddenly he heard gunshots.


According to him, he took cover and later
decided to run to his house. As he made
the move to run home, he was halted by an
order from a police officer.
“I stopped. There were police officers, lots
of them.”
They asked him where he was going and he
told them but instead of letting him go on
his way, the officers pushed him into their
vehicle and accused him of being an armed
robber.


“I didn’t understand what they meant
because I was not carrying any weapon on
me, just the money I was going to use to
buy suya. They took us, myself and one
other guy to SARS [Special Anti-Robbery
Squad] at Ikeja, where they kept me under
a tree. Later, they came and took me to the
‘theatre’. There, there were two drums filled
with sand. I was tied like a goat, two of my
hands at my back; they crossed an iron rod
at my back, and then hanged me” He said
he hung in that position for One hour, 20
minutes.


“They tried to force me to admit I was an
armed robber – they even shot me in the
leg. I have never robbed anyone in my life.
I was just a young man struggling to save
money to get admission into a higher
institution to further my education.”
Effiong who had a dream of becoming a
mass communicator had his hope dashed
because an influential politician Delta state,
Alfred Rewane, had been assassinated that
morning by unknown gunmen at his
residence in Ikeja GRA, a few hundred
metres from Effiong’s home.
Effiong was in the wrong place at the wrong
time
“They held me for days. There was no
phone at that time and there was no way
for me to get in touch with my family. It was
my wife who learned about it. I think the
people who saw me when I was taken away
told her. Then she travelled home to inform
my mother. They wanted me to copy a
statement they had written to say that I am
an armed robber and that I conspired with
the others in the murder of Rewane. I
refused. They beat me till my face was
covered with blood which was pouring from
my left ear. I didn’t want to die, so I
recopied the statement in my own
handwriting. The statement is what they
used in implicating us. As I was recopying
the statement, the only thing on my mind
was that I didn’t do anything and that my
God will let everyone know the truth. It was
later that one of the policemen came to tell
us that he was sorry, that it was an order
from above. Later, they charged eight of us
with the murder of the man. I don’t know
the man, never heard of him. Those that I
was charged with murder with, I had never
seen any of them in my life.”he said.
After being tortured and forced to admit
guilt, seven of the men were arraigned
before a high court, and sent to Kirikiri
prison to await trial. But when the men
arrived at the prison, prison officials
insisted that the police take them to
hospital to have their wounds treated.
Instead, they took them to a police station –
where four of the men subsequently died,
reportedly due to the injuries sustained
while being tortured by the police.
“The torture and suffering were too much,”
Effiong reflects.


Rewane’s killing was later linked to the
military junta of Nigeria’s then dictator, the
late Sani Abacha. But Effiong and two other
men – Elvis Irenuma and Lucky Igbinovia,
who had both worked for Rewane –
continued to languish in prison.
Then, after 15 years, more than 200
adjournments and the prosecution’s
inability to produce any evidence linking
the suspects to the crime, the trial judge
discharged the case and acquitted the
suspects, upholding a ‘no case submission’
made by the defence counsel.
“It appears to me that all the police did was
to visit the venue of the incident and arrest
the workers,” the judge declared in her
judgement.


So it was that, 15 years after they were
arrested, three of the seven arraigned men
– Effiong Elemi-Edu, Lucky Igbinovia and
Elvis Irenuma – walked out of prison.
But gone was the fit 25-year-old who was
picked up that night. In his place was a
balding 40-year-old man who walks with a
limp, a constant reminder of the torture he
endured.
“I spoke with Lucky recently, he’s in
Switzerland now,” Effiong says. “I don’t
know what he is doing there. We speak but
not regularly. [And] I saw Elvis in June this
year. I am supposed to call him, only I don’t
have enough units in my phone.”
As for Effiong, things are not going
according to plan.
“I’ve been facing a lot of challenges,
accommodation-wise, money-wise. I need
to get my own place. Right now I’m
squatting with my brother and his wife in a
one-room apartment. That’s why I’m
praying to God to help me get a place of my
own. “When we were over there [in prison]
… at times these churches [would] … come
over to visit. Immediately [when] you …
come out and say you want to go to church
and give a testimony, they will look at you
and say ‘Where is this guy going?’ Once,
somebody came out [and] they
accommodated him. [But] … the guy packed
everything away [stole from them]. So they
[the churches] stopped helping other
people.”


Early on in his imprisonment, his wife
would visit him. But the visits stopped
without warning, and when Effiong was
released, he heard that she had remarried.
He had no idea where to begin looking for
her.
Two years later, Effiong also remarried. His
new wife, Juliet, lives in Cross River, where
Effiong is originally from.
“My daughter is one year and four months
now. I’m yet to set my eyes on [her]. Her
name is Rose. They sent her picture to me.
[But] I haven’t travelled home to Cross
River since 2013 because financially I’m not
okay. I’m so down. If I see money now, I
will travel home today, today, today. I can’t
tell you a lie, life has not been easy. What
will I do? It’s only by the special grace of
God that one is surviving and living. Things
are really so tough in the sense that I just
leave everything to God. These days I watch
football. Then listen to gospel songs. If I’m
alone, I just go through my Bible. They
wasted my time. They wasted the talent that
God gave to me. At times it pains me, when
I look at the way things are going. I know
the level my friends are at now. Is it not my
classmate in secondary school that is a
commissioner in Cross River? The other one
is working in Central Bank. The other one is
a lawyer in Port Harcourt. But I don’t dwell
on those things. If I do, one day I’ll just be
struck down by a stroke. So I have to put all
those things behind me [and] let the will of
God be done.” he said


www.aljazeera.com/programmes/my-nigeria/2015/09/nigeria-prison-crime-didn-commit-150907101327396.html

The Nigeria police force still have a long way 2 go in fighting crime in our society.

Incompetent men who can't face d real criminals will just pick up a young guy running 2 get nairabet ticket or flinging his "all good ticked" ticket 2 go get his money and impose d crime on him

Then comes d torture....the young man have no other choice than to claim guilty after series of blows from d rusty farm gun as well as electric shocks with little or no food all for d pains 2 stop.
#Smh,,Ogadimma#

Quite sad....

only God will help our nigerian police, just imagine how they wasted 15yrs of this man's life.its all in the name of taking glory that they were ''gallant in arresting the arm robbers" and they will get promoted or praised by the mass all this at the expense of somebody life.if it were there own relative would they arest him.
The evil that men do live after them

hmmm

Quite disheartening.. God, save this country from all corrupt and evil practices. Amen.

this is so disheartening to say the least

please we should stop this blame game & find a way to help this man

lets raise money for him
seun, please appoint ur most trusted mod so we can pay a little sum into his/her account

I will set the ball Rollin with #500

The worst thing that EVER happened to Nigeria is the Nigerian Police force. People that would force someone to sign for a case he did not commit just to see that they are promoted.That is why most of their children as robbers and vagabonds

NPF GETTIN IT WRONG SINCE INCEPTION



Turn Nigerian police to cassava production company,it would b more use ful dat way

Nigeria police force has been in this business since 1960, shame on them.

I'm sure the policeman that Rob this guy in most have been dead, because they die like chicken.

Not fair

He should be paid for damages. 15 wasted years can't be recovered

If you haven't been there, you can't understand what this man went through. NPF is TRASH!!!

Poor poor man ...i feel for him