A man awaiting trial at the Oko Prisons in Edo state has died an untimely death due to neglect by prison officials.
Sunday Akubor suffered swollen scrotum and legs before his death
A Nigerian man, Prince Gwamnishu Harrison has narrated the sad
story of Sunday Akubor. 38, a father of two who died while awaiting
trial at the Oko prison in Edo state.
His condition before his death was unimaginable, Harrison wrote. He
further revealed how the man's legs, scrotum and more were swollen
before his death.
He wrote:
"SUNDAY AKUBOR, AWAITING DETAINEE FOUND DEAD IN HIS CELL IN BENIN PRISON.
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."