Headfort Foundation, a prison reform initiative, has narrated how Ujunwa Joshua and Ikwe Emmanuel (not their real names) spent roughly a year in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
The foundation said some police officers arrested Joshua, a worker at a nylon-producing factory, at Lafenwa Market, Ogun State, where he had gone to tinker in January 2022 and branded him a cultist.
Headfort also stated that Emmanuel was arrested in the same month by the same set of police officers and they accused him of cultism.
Despite arresting the men at different times, the police paired them as crime mates at the station and charged them with cultism.
“In September, Joshua and Emmanuel’s case was referred to us by the correctional officers, and our lawyer, Silver Obioha, at our Ogun State mobile office, took their briefs properly when they went for prison visitation at the Ibara Correctional Centre, after which we started representing them in court,” said Headfort.
“For every adjourned date, where no witnesses came forward, we applied for striking out, but the court, in the interest of justice, always adjourned.
“Eventually, on December 9, the prosecution applied that the matter be struck out as there was still no witness in court. The application was granted, and Joshua and Emmanuel were released. They spent about a year in custody.”
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