At about 2pm 10th of May 2019, an officer called my name from d counter, my personal effects were handed over to me, I was take to d @PoliceNG headquarters Kaduna where I was parades from officer to office starting from d commissioners officer, I felt dehumanized, my strength was
begining to fail me, I kept asking myself could this be the status quo? why am I being punished even before being declared guilty by a law court?
after parading me, they took me to an office where I was to be interrogated by a senior police officer.

While in d office, my friend
finally located me there after 72 hours of searching, they came alongside a lawyer who sat by throughout d interrogation.

At about 6:27pm on that day, d officer interrogating me instructed a junior officer to take me to d dreaded SARs detention facility where I was to spend d
weekend, d officer kept encouraging me to be strong & that this is a phase in my life that would soon be over.

On reaching d SARs facility which is a stone throw away from d headquarters, I was greeted by another bad odour oozing out from d visibly congested cells.
At d counter
I was told I could be admitted into d vip cell if I can pay, I asked how much & d officer told me #1,500. I paid & immediately my personal effects were documented as usual, then I was taken to d so called VIP cell, it was a tiny dark room with rubber mats on d floor without about
19 inmates on it, I was welcomed by Mr Ignetious an Imo state indigene who was d cell Governor, he read d rules & regulations to me as usual & told me that d sleeping Patten for me on that day would be J5, a Patten where one lies on his side while another fixes himself into your
belly & another dose same & so on.
In this cell there is neither toilet nor bathroom, inmates have to urinate on a white bucket kept by d wall, often times d bucket gets filled & d urine flow on d floor.
Now that is d VIP cell I paid #1,500 to stay in.

At about 8pm I had my
first meal in 72 hours, a little boy of about 11 years old was d supplier of poorly cooked meals, I enquired & was told d meal cost between #100 & #200 depending on how many meat one wants to eats. So I ordered to rice & 2 pieces of meat for #200. After about 1t minutes d young
chap brought d food & I collected it from him via d door bars, sat down to eat but d terrible smell of overflowed urine wouldn't let me to, after eating 5 spoons I gave d remaining food to Abdullahi a fellow inmate from Bauchi state.
He took d food & Sadi thank you in Hausa
language.
Then it was bed time, d cell Governor arranged us like canned � in d J5 pattern, it was to be d worst sleeping condition I ever had in my entire 30 years of existence on planet earth, I couldn't sleep all through d night, d smell of urine, d sound & bites from
mosquitoes & noice from d opposite cell made sleep impossible.

Fast forward to Monday 13th of May 2019, at about 9:23am my name was called from d counter & I was to be arraigned before a Margistrate court, I had earlier taken my bath all thanks to my cell Governor who made
arrangement for water & space outside d cell.

On getting to d counter, my friends were waiting for me with some new clothes, I changed my dress & we immediately left for d court.
The FIR was read to d court & d Margistrate granted me bail after some legal debates from both
Prosecution & defense counsel.
Bail conditions were met, my family & friends were excited, it was going to be party later in d night.
We left for home all happy but d happiness was going to be for only a few days.

4 days later I got a call from my lawyer telling me that d police
had informed him that they want to have a word with me, then I had already returned to my base in Portharcout, I told him I would be able to make it to d police next week which was to be a Tuesday 21st of May 2019, he said no problems.

On d said Tuesday, I & 2 friends drove to
d police station at Gabasawa, upon sighting me one of d officer called d attention of another who came & told me we were going to court for another petition written against me by a local government Chairman, I called my lawyer & he came. We got to d courtroom & d FIR was read,
prosecution counsel requested I be detained for 1r days I police custody to enable they d police conclude investigation, my lawyer seek for bail but d Margistrate refused, I was returned to Gabasawa police station where I would spend another 14 days in confinement.
On the 7th day, I woke up feeling depressed & I sent word to my IPO (investigative Police officer), he came & I told him to please allow my friends get me newspaper to read, he obliged & my friend got me a copy of @TheNationNews, d officer at d counter passed it to me in my cell
I sat down on d floor browsing through d paper only to find a quote which reads "the law is like a spider web, small things fall on it and get entrapped while big things fall and break through", that quote got me thinking deep.

A police officer who I later got to know is d SO
(station officer) passed & saw me reading d paper and shouted, "Who is reading newspaper there? Them bring you here to read paper ne? You are supposed to be thinking and not read paper here", he instructed d officer at d counter to collect d paper from me & he went away with it.
My heart sank back into depression, I felt horrible and dispirited, I wept even though tears didn't drop.

On 3rd of June 2019 on d expiration of d 1r days detention, I was taken back to court, d Margistrate this time around ordered I be remanded in Prison custody while my trial
continues, I was taken to the Kaduna Maximum Security prison established in 1915, it was another to be another long way to freedom where I would spend another 148 days in prison confinement.

The Prison was a far better place to stay compared to d police stations even though not
without her own terrible stories and experiences.

To be continued......

CONTINUATION.

At about 4:35pm on 3rd of June 2019, d court registrar called d Prison to come & take me away as instructed by d Margistrate who had minutes ago denied me bail on bailable offenses.
I said a little prayer inside me 'God, please go with me, don't let them break me'.
The Kaduna convict Prison now Kaduna custodial center is a stone throw away from d Margistrate court situated along d Independence way Kaduna, in less than 1p minutes a young warden arrived d court, fortunately for me he has read about my ordeal online prior to now, we exchanged
pleasantries, he brought out his handcuffs and he said to me calmly, "Steve, am sorry I have to do this, no hard feelings bro"

I smiled & responded, no problem Sir, you are only doing your job.
He cuffed my hands and we made our way to d Prison yard which is about 5 minutes
trekking distance.

At d ancient Prison gate, I said another prayer silently 'Father, please take charge of my soul in this dungeon, don't allow my enemies to celebrate over me' after saying d prayers an idea obviously from above came to my mind & I made d following decisions;
1. I decided that I was going to give my mind d freedom my body was going to be denied in Prison
2. I decided never to treat any Prison official as an enemy
3. I decided I will keep fit physically, spiritually & otherwise
4. I decided I won't go on hunger strike for any reason.
All these prayer & decisions were done in less than 60 seconds.
After then, d gate was opened by a warden & I took d first step across d giant Prison gate, d gate behind me was immediately shut then my heart began to beat faster again, I sensed danger, my cuffs were unlocked,
another young handsome officer seated on a wooden chair is in charge of searching new inmates before they enter the main yard, to be frank, that young officer is very good at his job, he searches and detects exhibits even better than mechanized detectors. It was my turn to be
searched, I was thoroughly searched to d extent that not even a needle was left on me, personal effects like cash, belt, wrist watch etc were taken and documented at d gate, then another giant gate was opened for me to go in, I entered and behold I was one more gate to d main
yard, here I would be partially admitted as a prisoner by a lady warden. While waiting for my turn, a fierce looking officer shouted at me "my friend squat down", I quicky went on my toes, others followed suit, we were about 35 in numbers awaiting admission. Most of d inmates
were brought in from either the SARs detention facility or other police stations across d state, they were looking very unkept & their dresses dirty & smelling. I couldn't breath properly due to d stinking smells, reality dawned on me that these ones are going to be my cell mates


I was finally admitted though partially as d final admission is usually done in d morning when photograph can be taken.
Another young officer came & lead us into d main yard, behold I was finally in Prison, my eyes quickly sighted two opposite structures with d inscription '1915'
on them, they are the two armed robbery building each having 4 large cells big enough to contain hundreds of inmates (not the actual capacity). In-between them is d prison football pitch.
We made out way passed d pitch, it was already about 6pm by my estimation since my wrist
has been taken away from me at d gate.
Then we finally arrived a very large building with over 16 large cells on each floor (one storey building), d building I later got to know it to be Luxerious building or Gidan bredi (bread house) as d inmates call it.
We were then splitter
into smaller units, each taken to a cell already overcrowded, I was take to cell 9 on d last floor, I was asked to wait while d warden in charge of d building comes with d key, d entire building looks very unkept, flies were everywhere, then I saw something terrible while waiting
for d officer to come open d door for me, I saw a 'blackish soup like liquid being poured into dirty plates' arranged on each door, that is d soup prepared by our government for d inmates, on sighting it, my heart bleeds immediately, the aluta spirit in me woke up & I lost my
cool, and asked d inmate sharing d 'soup' angrily in Hausa language 'kai menene wannan (what is this)?'
he responded; "Miyan gabza ne senior" (it's soup for gabza my senior) gabza is d name they call food proaree with either maize or guinea corn powder. Another reality dawned
on me that this is going to be my meal if nobody is allowed to visit me, though my fear didn't materialize as friends, family and Nigerians from within and outside d country made sure I lacked nothing throughout my stay in jail.
The officer with d me eventually came & opened d
cell door and behold I was right inside my new abode, a dirty cell with 6 inmates inside, one of them nicknamed Zomo an Abia state indigene who is d cell leader shouted at me, "oboy u dey mad, remove your shoes jor, abi u think say na your palour be this?".

Wow! remove my shoes
on a dirty floor, okay now, I obeyed.
Then he read some stringent rules & regulations to me, he told me that this is not Nigeria, this is 'country no vex', what an irony! I saw you vexed few seconds ago and now u said this is country no vex, I said to myself silently though. Lolz
To be continued........