Headfort Foundation, a prison reform initiative, has narrated how Wisdom Ofem, a bakery worker in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, spent eight months in police custody for an offence his friend was alleged to have committed.

Endurance Ezealaji, the foundation’s lawyer who represented Ofem in court, told FIJ that the owner of the bakery where Ofem worked hired police officers to arrest him as bait to get his friend.

Victor, Ofem’s friend, was said to have stolen N750,000 from the owner of the bakery.

The lawyer also said that the bakery owner traced Ofem to where he was in Ado-Ekiti on July 2021 to ask him of Victor, his friend’s whereabouts.

FIJ gathered that Ofem got the job at the bakery through Victor, who had been working with the owner for some time.

“Ofem said he did not know where Victor was, but his boss did not believe him,” Ezealaji told FIJ.

“Because he did not believe what Ofem had said, the bakery owner told him to enter his car. He further told him that there was something he needed to help him with at the bakery.

“However, the moment they got to the bakery, some police officers, who were already waiting for Ofem to be lured to them, pounced on him.

“He was badly beaten by the officers at the bakery. As the beating continued, they also asked him to tell them where his friend had run to. But because he did not know where his friend was, he told them he did not know. He was subjected to more physical torture by the officers when they took him to their station, but despite all the dehumanising treatments meted out to him, he stood his ground.”

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Ezealaji said the police would later accuse Ofem of stealing the missing amount when he failed to provide Victor. With this new allegation, Ofem was charged to court for stealing.

“They granted him bail, but he had no relatives in Ekiti. The police also arrested some of his friends who could have stood by him. Out of fear, his friends did not show up again for him when they were able to secure bail. They decided to distance themselves from him because no one knew what would happen next,” she further said.

“Everyone left Ofem alone. His boss abandoned the case after reporting it to the police. Even the police stopped looking for Victor.”

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Ezealaji said she met Ofem in January during one of her prison visits. She then took his brief and represented him in court. Eventually, she secured his release on April 4, 2022.

“Ofem spent eight months in custody for no just cause,” she said. “He had his education up to SS3 but could not write the WASSCE due to financial difficulties. He moved to Ado-Ekiti and stayed with Victor, who introduced him to his job.”