– Cries Out For Justice
– Says; Authority Indifferent Over Complaints Of sodomy In Correctional Center
More revelations have emerged about the traumatic experiences of the four occupants of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Imo State Counci’sl, Secretariat, located along Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, who were sent to prison without arraignment by an Owerri Magistrate Court.
An former inmate of Owerri Correctional Center, Victory Nnadi, in an exclusive interview with Nigeria Watchdog Newspaper, threw light on the physical, psychological and emotional trauma some of the inmates are subjected to by their fellow inmates.
Nnadi, one of the four persons that were unlawfully imprisoned by an Owerri Magistrate Court at the instance of an Anglican Priest, Rev Godson Nlemchukwu,who owns Enedo General Services, narrated how he was brutalized and beaten to stupor by inmates of the Owerri Correctional Center for refusing to engage in homosexual activities.
Nnadi and three others, now referred to as Imo NUJ-4 are legal tenants of the Imo NUJ Secretariat complex from where they were arrested and their properties confiscated on the basis of a deceitfully procured Court order.
“He appealed to the state and federal government to set up a commission of inquiry to take a critical look at happenings in the place with a view to the addressing the problems holistically to ensure that the facility becomes a Correctional Center that it was meant to be.
Nnadi said, “I was nearly raped at the Owerri Correctional Centre a day after our arrival. At the male cell they asked me to go to the toilet and undress but I refused. They immediately started forcing me and I vehemently refused”.
“They now started beating me and inflicted injuries all over my body. These are my fellow men wanting to have carnal knowledge of me. They said it was a normal thing there but I refused to yield.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for Owerri Correctional Centre, Goodluck Uboegbulam, said he was not aware that such an act occurs at the facility.
He blamed the victim for not reporting the crime to the prison facility, adding that authorities of the Correctional Centre have zero tolerance for such acts.
They called for the arrest of Rev Godson Nlemchukwu and the Chief Bailiff of the Magistrate court, Mr Onyekachi Uba for deceiving the court, which led to their unwarranted imprisonment and confiscation of their properties.
Their statement reads in part, “On the issue of our property, we give the Chief Bailiff, Onyekachi, 7 days to return all our properties carried away from NUJ Secretariat, else we shall seek redress through every legally permissible means.
“We also urge the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State, Chief COC Akaolisa to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to our imprisonment and punish those involved to serve as deterrent to others”.
Nnadi, and others, namely, Chinedu Oguguam, Samuel Nduka, and a female Ogechi Chima, said, they were picked up from the Imo NUJ Secretariat and dumped at the Owerri Correctional Center by a group of desperadoes who were bent on fraudulently taking possession of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Imo State Council’s Port Harcourt Road Secretariat without arraignment from November, 28 to December, 10, 2024, amidst all kinds of harrowing and dehumanizing experiences including sodomy.
It was gathered that top officials of the Correctional Center who had been informed of the happenings there have not deemed it necessary to do the needful uptill date.
