A 38-year-old
awaiting trial prisoner Sunday Akubor died in Oko Prison, Edo State
Tuesday evening, April 18th. According to Chief Executive Officer of Behind
Bars
Initiative, Prince Gwannishu Harrison (pictured) who broke the news this
morning, the father of two was arrested for issuing a dud cheque to a business
associate, one Abogame Fredrick.
He was
arraigned before a Magistrate Court on two counts charge of conspiracy to
defraud. Below is a statement by Prince Harrison:
"JLAA is
outraged with the continuing neglect and mistreatment of inmates at the Oko
Prisons Benin City , Edo state.The jail’s credibility and the public’s trust in
the prisons administration are steadily declining with every violation of human
and civil rights.
Sunday Akubor
was arrested for issuing a dud cheque to a business associate, Abogame
Fredrick, who had vowed to use his "connection" with the Edo State
police command to ensure that Mr.Akubor, does not "return back from
prison".
Despite his protest
to the police that he had reasonable expectations of funds at the time of
issuing the cheque and indeed went ahead to present the cash value of the
cheque at the State CID Benin City, Edo state, the investigative police officer
insisted that the case must proceed to a court of law at the behest of Mr.
Abogame. That was two days to Easter.
JLAA got
involved immediately after Mr. Akubor had spent three days in police cell
without bail. JLAA Edo state Head of legal, Bright Omorodion Esq. was
immediately dispatched to secure his bail and if necessary proceed to court to
defend and assert Mr. Akubor's rights.
However, he
was taken to Magistrate court and arraigned on two count charge of conspiracy
to defraud and issuance of dud cheque. He was represented, on probono basis by
a team of lawyers from JLAA. Bail was granted on what we have elsewhere
described as harsh, punitive and wrongful.
Mr.Sunday Akubor
until his death, was a trader, 38 and married with two children, Joan and
Jason. I personally spoke with him on Easter Friday from his cell
when he surprisingly called me and assured him that JLAA will do everything
legally possible to get him out.
Yesterday
morning, JLAA had filed application for variation of bail condition. By
evening, words reached us that he was found dead in his cell. His death brings
to the fore, once again the plight of poor detainees languishing in the various
prisons in Nigeria as a result of obnoxious and punitive bail conditions
imposed on them by courts.
Unfortunately,
we do not see this situation improving drastically in the near future which is
again the reason why we strongly recommended the immediate suspension of the
new prison superintendent until the relevant authorities conclude investigative
findings on the basis of our petition to the minister of interior.
We shall
submit a petition to the Honourable Minister of the Interior this morning in
Abuja. JLAA Director of litigation, Opeyemi Baderu will leave for Benin this
morning to assess the situation first hand preparatory to instituting a court
action against police and the Prison Authority for negligently causing the
death of citizen Sunday Akubor.
We urge the
Ministry of Interior to continue its investigation into potential violations of
inmates’ constitutional rights of inmates in the various prisons in the land
with utmost urgency. We will not be silent on this matter. We will leverage our
community and legislative partnerships to make substantial changes in Nigerian
prisons.
Regardless,
the Nigerian Prison Authorities and the Police Authority just
"bought" another litigation.
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