Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has secured the freedom of Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu and two others who have been imprisoned for 26 years after being sentenced to death over allegations of stolen electricity generating set in 2023.
According to the press statement from the office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Abia State Governor, the released victims Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, Olawale Adediji and one other who wasn’t presented and names not made available were presented to Governor Otti on Saturday by Hon. Simon Oshi from Enugu State.
Hon. Oshi was said to have reached out to Governor Otti for intervention on the matter after getting the information about the inmates from a social post made by an influencer, Olumide Ogunsanwo, popularly known on the social Media space as “Sea King” and had to contact Governor Otti for prompt action.
The social media influencer happened to be remanded in the kirikiri correctional facility for two weeks for a matter when they were discovered.
Hon. Oshi said “when the popular social media influencer brought it up on social media, I took it upon myself and said, let me actually go and verify if what they are saying is true.
”So, I went with a team of lawyers and also our popular influencer here too, to visit the two young men in Kiirikiri prison. On getting there, I started interacting with them.
”And I asked him, Where are you from? He said he’s from Abia State. I told him, I know your Governor, he’s a very good man and an amazing leader. I will pass this message across to him and get back to you.
”They were sentenced to death in 2003 over a case of a stolen electricity generator that he bought 1999. So, I told His Excellency, the next day, he sent the Attorney General of Abia State to Kirikiri prison in Lagos to go and verify if all I told him was actually true.
”The Attorney General went there, got back to him, So His Excellency, being a good leader and an amazing father to us all, hurriedly wrote a letter to the Governor of the State where they were held.
”From there, he kept on pushing and after spending 26 years in prison, His Excellency brought them back and now they have seen freedom, Hon. Oshi narrated.
Narrating the ordeal, Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, an indigene of Ikwuano LGA, of Abia State, said as a dealer in electric generating sets, he bought a generator from one Segun Ajibade in 1999, and sold it only to see the person that sold the generator to him, coming back after two weeks to his shop with the police.
According to him, in what appears to be an arrangement, they beat him up and forced him to sign a statement they wrote by themselves while refusing to let him read through the statement.
He was taken to court and sentenced to death. From 1999 he was remanded in prison till 2003 when he was actually sentenced to death until the intervention in 2025.
Receiving the freed inmates Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, Olawale Adediji, and the other who couldn’t join them on their journey to Abia State, Governor Alex Otti thanked Hon. Simon Oshi for his doggedness and consistency and encouraged him to continue to do what he is doing for the society.
Gov. Otti equally appreciated the social media influencer for a job well done, adding that, God might have allowed him (the social media influencer) to be remanded in the correctional facility for two weeks, just to help Mr. Igbojionu and Co to regain their freedom from death sentence and life imprisonment.
”A typical Nigerian would say it doesn’t concern me but because you’re a very good person, you took it upon yourself. If you didn’t bring it to my attention, I wouldn’t have known.
”So, by the time we enquired, the twist was that they were in Lagos but it was an Ogun State matter. I want to use this opportunity to also thank my brother, Governor, colleague, and friend, Dapo Abiodun, for also following through and being consistent.
”When I brought it to his attention and wrote the letter, he acknowledged it and said he was going to work on it. Just last week, I was away when he called me outside the country and said they have now been released.
”For us, justice is everything. You can have all the money in the world but if you don’t contribute to building a fair and just society, your money is useless.
”We’ll all come and go. People leave so much behind. Once you close your eyes and you don’t open them, that’s it. That’s the end. Whatever you would have accumulated and acquired would become useless,” Governor Otti said.
Governor Otti assured that his government would give them the necessary support to bounce back to life, directed the Commissioner for Local Government and his Power and Public Utilities counterpart, who were present at the event, to work with the relevant Departments of government to ensure that they are reintegrated back into the society.
”It may not be their direct role, but I’m giving them the assignment to work with the relevant parts of the government to ensure that they are reintegrated back into the society.
”We will support you and get you back into the society. Having said that, I want to welcome you back to this part of the world. Thank God for preserving you up to this time, ” Gov. Otti said. .
Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu on behalf of other freed inmates thanked Almighty God for using Governor Otti to spare their lives and thanked
Governor Otti for being a good and passionate leader assuring that Abians would pay him back in the polls.
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