How a 25-year-old-governor’s-aide-changed the destiny of 3 prison inmates
The joy of three prisoners
on Thursday, February 02, 2017 grew and their hope rose when Ovie
Success Ossai, an aide of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa settled their prison
bills and set them free. The three inmates were serving various jail
terms at the Medium Security Prison in Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha south local
government area of Delta state.
The
inmates, Messrs. Dominic Igwe, 53, Idu Endurance, 23, and John Odalonu,
17, were respectively jailed for tricycle theft, breaking and entry and
phone theft in different parts of the state. But they could not upset a
fine option of N30,000 each to avoid going to jail.
Ossai (in white) and the freed prisoners, two at the right and one at the left heading out of prison
The journey to prison service
The
three freed inmates, who were extremely happy after their release,
recounted their separate rough paths to the high walls of the
Ogwashi-Uku prisons which is, at the moment, housing hundreds of
inmates, many of who are awaiting trial.
53
years old Dominic Igwe, who is a father three, said he was ingloriously
hauled into prison by his former boss, whom he identified as Mr. Kelechi
Onyedefu following the mysterious disappearance of his tricycle
popularly called Keke, from the stadium complex, along the popular
Nnebisi road in Asaba, the Delta state capital.
According
to Igwe, who spoke amidst tears, the tricycle was handed over to him on
the understanding that he would pay a whooping sum of N860,000 through
an installment arrangement, but he had barely raked in N115,000 for his
estranged boss when the misfortune set in.
“I
explained to him all that happened, but he never believed me. I was
invited to the A Division police station in Asaba from where I was
arrested and charged to court. I could not finance the prosecution of
the case and after the legal process, on December 2, 2016, I was
sentenced to prison for three years, but to serve two years having
remained under detention for one year and six months," Igwe said.
One of the freed inmates explaining what landed him in prison
On
how he felt at the point of receiving the court sentence, Igwe, an
indigene of Ebonyi state, but lives in Asaba, said he was totally
disheartened and had no hope of regaining his freedom since he had no
one to help pay the N30,000 option of fine that was slammed on him as
alternative to the jail term.
He expressed
gratitude to God that fortune had smiled on him after exactly two months
of eating less than a handful of garri, poorly prepared beans and
breathing the unnatural air domiciled within the dungeon.
For
23 year old Idu Endurance who was not ashamed to confess to breaking
into a supermarket at Ejeme-Aniogor, a rural community in Aniocha south
local government area of the state, said a group of local vigilante
apprehended him on his return from what could have been a success
mission.
Caught on January 4, 2017, he narrated
that he was detained at the B Division police station from where he was
arraigned before a magistrate court at Okwe, a community that shares
boundary with Asaba.
Three freed prisoners
He
said from the day he was sentenced to prison on one year jail year jail
term with an option of N30,000 fine, not even one person had walked
into the prison to visit him, noting that “the experience has shown me a lesson that whatever crime I commit, I am on my own”.
But
what could have also brought 17-year-old John Odalonu to the gathering
of hardened criminals, notorious kidnappers and drug addicts found in
prisons? Well, it was simply the desire to quench an hunger that drove
the lad into stealing a Tecno T407 handset, an act that unfortunately
landed him into the thicker side of live.
Odalonu,
who lives with his octogenarian grandmother, since he is yet to meet
his biological mother who dumped his father for sketchy reasons, the
worst day of his life will certainly remain the day he went to a barbing
saloon to charge the same handset he had stolen, awaiting a potential
buyer.
After
the actual owner of the said handset walked into him, he said the local
vigilante in the area swooped on him with sticks and whips that have
erased much of his memories on the event that occurred on January 19,
2017.
Ossai handing some cash to the freed inmates
Odalonu,
a Senior Secondary School dropout was immediately whisked to the
Ogwashi-uku police station from where he was arraigned before a
magistrate who dealt the final blow of a six month sentence on him with a
similar N30,000 option of fine.
Unlike others,
the young ex-convict was not as unfortunate as some of his colleagues
as he claimed that he enjoyed preferential treatment in the eyes of the
older inmates who offered him food and some over used clothes to give
him more comfort in the cells.
The announcement of freedom
While
their despondencies may have persisted beyond measures, little did they
know that fortune was hurriedly running down their ways. Mr. Ovie
Success Ossai, the Personal Assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on
Special Duties (Media) was set to celebrate his 25th birthday
anniversary, a ceremony he chose to share with prisoners. And that was
it.
The inmates who had obviously lost hopes in
the dream of enjoying the liberty of building a world of their own were
surprisingly set free on Thursday, January 2, 2017 after Ossai extended
benevolence to the three of them whose bills were wholly cleared and
subsequently let go.
Ossai in a group photograph with the freed inmates and a prison official
From
the dark dungeon where they have been made to sleep and reminisce on
their offences, the alarm of freedom sounded and, in few minutes, Igwe,
Endurance and Odalonu were up on their feet walking out of the prisons
with their sack bags and uncontrollable wide smiles that ran through
their enlivened faces.
The governor’s aide,
Ossai, who is the youngest serving political appointee in the Okowa’s
government, expressed satisfaction that he was able to put smiles on the
faces of the inmates who may have lost hopes of regaining freedom until
the end of their jail term.
On why he chose to
celebrate with the inmates, Ossai explained that the action was in line
with his undying desire to see people liberated from whatever avoidable
restriction they may find themselves, noting that it gratifies more for
him to engage in the act rather than indulge in luxurious hosting of a
birthday party.
The
governor’s aide who took to treat the freed inmates to choice
delicacies at the Asaba Shopping Mall, enjoined the beneficiaries of his
gesture to shun vices and direct their energy and vibrancy towards
productive ends, assuring that he would make further efforts to fast
track their rehabilitation.
The trio offered
words of prayers to God to bless Ossai and support whatever ventures he
embarks on, promising that they would never go back to their ungodly
conducts that landed them in jail
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