Media
personality and blogger Kemi Olunloyo regained freedom after spending 90 days
in prison.
Controversial
Nigerian journalist, Kemi Olunloyo who was arrested and locked up in
Port-Harcourt Maximum Prison, has regained freedom.
Kemi Olunloyo
who announced getting back her freedom after her imprisonment for the third
time on her Instagram handle, also thanked those who helped in her release.
She wrote;
“#BREAKING I have been released from
Port Harcourt maximum prison for the third time in 12 months. To the Federal
government of Nigeria, pls decongest #PHMax. Our young #Igbo #Ogoni
#Ikwere#Calabar #AkwaIbom males are all LOCKED UP and not fed adequately. Many
wasting away with skin and health problems. The Federal Ministry of Interior
needs to intervene FAST! Special thanks to @areafada1 and #ourmumudondomovement
which I helped launch @tvcconnect Dec 13th 2016. ..
Details in my upcoming book
#StraightOuttaPHMax
Blogging my prison experience begins
soon”
Recall
that a blogger who visited Kemi Olunloyo in prison months ago, following her
incarceration since October 12 2017 for Bench Warrant. The visit came after
Kemi Olunloyo accused her lawyer of being a co-conspirator in her case.
“Today,
I visited Kemi Olunloyo @hnnAfrica at the Port Harcourt Maximum Prisons.
It
was a touching moment. She has been incarcerated since October 12 2017 for
Bench Warrant in what seemed to be a conspiracy by her former lawyer. She
alleged that she had filed a request for absence in the court through her
lawyer on health grounds only to discover that the letter was never submitted
by her lawyer. In her words, her former lawyer was bought over by people who
want to keep her continuously in detention.
Despite
being incarcerated for weeks, she was still very strong. Her voice pitched high
as usual and her words well chosen and spoken in her usual polished parlance.
I
sat opposite her and listened as she recounted the moments of her arrest. She
told me how a SARS officer without an ID nor a uniform arrested her in what
initially seemed like a kidnap incident only to discover she had been carefully
framed up and her detention process perfected to ensure the odds worked to
disallow her from being granted bail.
At
one point, she stared directly into my eyes and said.
”Phils,
I am not safe here. I have been repeatedly told to be careful. My life is in
danger here!”
Even
in the stench of that badly kept facility, her raving smile was imminent. She
would pause as she spoke and rekindle her words with an unassuming smile at
each instance leaving strange emphasis at each turn and twist of her gory
experience in the hands of the lawless Nigerian law. Kemi believes her ordeal
is perpetuated by a powerful man of God in Rivers State whom she is up against
in the court.
As
I listened to her and knowing how controversial Kemi has come to be, I began
searching for reasons to disbelieve her. I reflected on my encounters with
prison staff right from the gate to the point of meeting Kemi inside the
prisons. It was, perhaps, the most horrible site of corruption I have witnessed
in recent times. Every point of encounter was an extortion centre for the
prison staff. Every bit of that experience only helped me believe Kemi much
more for I saw clearly a system where money could keep anyone longer behind
those walls with just a few spread going to waiting pockets.
To
fill a form to see a prisoner, one had to pay some naira, to submit the form,
required another payment. To get it stamped required another payment, even to
move from one office to another in the process of gaining entrance, you are
required to make multiple payments as you get closer to the inner door that
leads inside the prison. I have never seen such manner of widespread and open
corrupt practice before. After multiple payments, I asked if these levies were
legal and the answer I got was worse than the ugly experience of having to pay
those illegal levies.
I
reflected on these and on the future of Nigeria, my heart stopped beating for a
moment. I was overtaken by the maze of thievery that was going on there. In my
instance, I counted 12 visitors and imagined how much these prison staff had
extorted in less than one hour from all of us. There and then, I knew Nigeria’s
problems were far from the walls of Aso Rock. Our problems are not groomed from
the green and red chambers of the National Assembly. Our problems lie in the
decaying hearts of our citizens and the loose fabrics of our moral characters.
Nigeria is installed on a faulty operating system infested with viruses stored
in its root files.
Now,
this is supposed to be a correctional facility where offenders are supposed to
be rehabilitated to become better citizens but it seems more like a breeding
house for criminals. A training ground to perfect crimes and to learn new acts
to aide the disobedience of the law. Here, they have made extortion so normal
it now seemed illegal not to engage in it. The Port Harcourt Maximum prison is
clearly a den of thieves in government uniforms.
Still,
Kemi was in front of me, her lips tired from the awful repetition of what she
had passed through since that article of hers with contents spilt against a
popular pastor in Port Harcourt landed her in this god forbidden hell. Her
strength in the midst of misery remains a wonder. She picked up her pen and
said:
“Phils,
I have a message for my fans.”
She
then penned it down thus (attached):
“I
am grateful for my fans’ loyalty to me. I am in good spirits.”
Signed
and dated it.
“
The next hearing is on the December 12,
2017. That is when I will be granted bail again.”
She
added.
For
me that was it. If this experience was intended to break her spirit, she has
refused to be broken. Before me, was no less, the very Kemi Oluloyo we all
know.
Whoever
initiated the re-arrest of Kemi will tell you he wanted justice; but I can tell
you with what I saw at that prison today, before the Nigerian law, Kemi now
needs justice more than anyone else in this case.
#FreeKemiOlunloyo
-Comrade
Phils”
Just watch your basket mouth
ReplyDelete