One of the last actions taken by the immediate past governor of Imo
State, Senator Rochas Okorocha before he vacated the Imo Government
House, Owerri, on May 28, was granting pardon to Nigeria’s oldest
prisoner, Pa Celestine Egbunuche.
Egbunuche, who would be 101 years on August 4 had for over 18 years
lived in solitude and hopelessness within the confines of the Enugu
Maximum Prison having been on death row with his only son, Paul and
another relation, now 88.
Egbunuche’s only surviving daughter told Sunday Sun that the
incident happened on April 3, 2000 at Amachara-Owerre Akokwa in Ideato
North Local Government Area of Imo State.
The centenarian may have been left off the precinct of the prison,
but he is not yet a free man following his precarious health condition
coupled with the air of hopelessness beclouding him. The truth is that
Pa Egbunuche has no place to lay his head when he is eventually
discharged from the hospital at Independence Layout, Enugu, where he was
rushed to by the Global Society for Anti-Corruption (GSAC); a
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), immediately after he was left off
the hook by the prison authorities on Thursday, June 6.
It was gathered that those allegedly behind the ordeal of the
Egbunuche’s had instigated the community and demolished their house once
they were arrested by the police in 2000 over some suspected trumped up
charges.
Facts emerged during the week that they could not appeal the
judgment of the Imo State High Court, which sentenced them to death due
to poverty and because those that could have assisted them were scared
of possible reprisals since the community had been made to believe that
they had a hand in the death of a native of the area.
His daughter, Miss Chisom Egbunuche recounted the family’s ordeal
since that fateful day when the family house was destroyed by those she
referred to as evil and wicked people.
The lady who hawks fruits and other items in Port Harcourt, Rivers
State disclosed that her mother died of frustration in Aba, Abia State
where they had relocated and stayed with a relation. Her elder sister
also died in 2005 while her father and brother were in incarceration.
The JSS 2 school drop-out told Sunday Sun that the pains and
frustration were unbearable to the point that she stopped coming to
check on her father and brother at the Enugu Prison more than five years
ago.
“The pain was too much. In fact, for over five years, I stopped
coming to check on them because anytime I visited and saw my people
languishing in prison; I was always devastated and would fall sick when I
go back to Port Harcourt,” Chisom said.
She, therefore, appealed to the government, public-spirited persons
and organisations to come to their aid, lamenting that she was confused
as to where to take her aged father to at this point.
She also begged the government to have mercy on her brother, Paul
by granting him pardon too to come and take care of their father.
A medical doctor at St. Daniel’s Hospital, where the ex-inmate is
receiving treatment; Dr Anumaka Maxwell told Sunday Sun that he was
rushed to the hospital with high blood pressure, but with time it has
been brought under control.
“We need to do series of tests to ascertain his state, but we
are treating him based on physical examination. So far, we’ve seen that
he has serious chest congestion. But there is little or no funding to
take care of him. In fact, when he came, there was nothing on ground,
but we had to make some sacrifices to take him in. At least we need to
make sure that he’s in a stable condition before he could be
discharged,” Dr Maxwell said.
President of GSAC, Mr. Franklin Ezeona said that though the
organization led the campaign for the release of the centenarian, that
it did not have the money to fund his rehabilitation.
He regretted that the Imo state Government which granted the old
man pardon did not make any arrangements to receive him from the prison
and also rehabilitate him.
Ezeona said: “But for the only surviving daughter and our NGO;
the man was just granted pardon and abandoned. Even at the moment, the
doctors have said that he has serious medical condition while we are not
sure of where he would be going after being discharged. So, we are
appealing to Governor Emeka Ihedioha and any other persons that can help
to do so soonest. This old man needs shelter over his head where he can
stay and die in peace”.
An Abuja-based rights lawyer, Ugochukwu Ezekiel who had lent a
voice to the call for Pa Egbunuche’s release, has also asked the
government not to abandon the man, advising that he be fully
rehabilitated.
He noted that Pa Egbunuche’s case has brought to focus the issue of keeping persons over 65 years behind bars.
“I welcome the good news of the release of the 10-year-old
prisoner. It is indeed a good development and brings into public
discourse, once more, the need to look at our criminal jurisprudence
with a view to allowing individuals though convicted of capital offenses
to be released on parole if found by the justice department to have
shown sufficient remorse and good conduct while in detention without
necessarily waiting for the governor’s prerogative of mercy.
“I believe that it’s ripe for different state Houses of
Assembly to look at both the substantive and procedural laws of the
various states to enable the department of justice, without prejudice to
the powers of the governor on prerogative of mercy, work with prison
authorities to parole prisoners and release them to serve out their
sentence doing community service notwithstanding the nature of the
offence. The cardinal point is rehabilitation and not necessarily
punishment. I congratulate the government and people of Imo State and
other civil rights campaigners who worked diligently to achieve this
feat,” Ezekiel said.
The GSAC had in two separate letters dated September 5, 2018,
petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Okorocha seeking pardon for
the inmate to go home and die peacefully.
Recall that our sister title; Daily Sun had in its exclusive report
of Wednesday, August 8, last year captioned: “Nigeria’s oldest prisoner
clocks 100 in Enugu,” jolted the world with the touching story of the
centenarian, who reportedly lost his sight few days after his birthday.
The news went viral on the social media; raising questions to how a
centenarian could still be in prison in Nigeria, when in other climes,
inmates above 65 years are eligible for either parole or state pardon.
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Source: Sun News
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