A Mountain of Fire and Miracles pastor, Chinedu Eze, who was wrongly accused and on awaiting trial list in prison for 14 years, has narrated his ordeal.
The 43-year old pastor, who is an indigene of Enugu State, said he was put in prison in 2005 before he was freed on Thursday, May 2, 2019.
Speaking with journalists at the 14th anniversary Gala of Silver Lining for the Needy Initiative, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), targeting vulnerable groups in Nigeria, he said he was arrested and sent to the Kuje Correctional Services by some policemen who had approached him sometime in 2005 to serve as a prosecution witness in a case he knew nothing about.
Eze said he was asked to testify against a policeman who had issues with his superiors and appreciated.
Appreciating the SNLI for helping him regain his freedom, he said he had already lost hope before the organisation came to his rescue.
His words: “I was sent to prison because of an issue involving a policeman who had issues with his superiors, and they wanted to punish him. Some policemen approached me and wanted to use me as a prosecution witness against him. But I told them that I couldn’t testify against him because I didn’t know anything about the scenario.
“One of the policemen, known as Emmanuel Abazie, told me that I had to cooperate with them unless I would regret it. At first, I thought it was just a mere threat. I never knew it would result in me going to prison. When I got to the prison, they hid my file. I stayed there for four years – no court, no files. It was a long, torturous journey that I had to stay 14 years under awaiting trial.”
Eze, who explained that he did not allow his predicament to deter him from furthering his education while in confinement, said that while in prison, he enrolled for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and bagged a Bachelor’s degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution from the National Open University of Nigeria out of the 996 inmates through the efforts of Christ Embassy Church.
Eze said: “I got seven credits without English. I sat for the exam again the following year, and I got nine distinctions, including English and Mathematics.
“When I was writing WAEC, I had no intention of furthering education in the prison because there was no university, but I saw it as a providence arrangement because after two years that I wrote WAEC, the National Open University and Christ Embassy came to the prison and said that they were looking for those who were qualified and those who had what it takes to be enrolled in the university. I happened to be one of 31 persons. We were about 996 inmates in Kuje prison.
“So I was among the 31 people that met the requirements to be given a scholarship, so that’s how I was admitted to study Peace and Conflict Resolution.”
Stressing the need for Nigerians to disabuse their minds from the notion that everyone in prison was guilty of an offence, he said that many people who were in prison should not have been sent there in the first place.
He continued: “My incident happened between 2005 and 2019. The SLNI came in 2017, and by that time I had given up. When they came, I had interaction with the founder, Hauwa Abass, and then she spoke with someone in her legal department, one Barrister Muhammad, who went to the court, located my file, and that was how my file was discovered. Muhammad later came to the prison and told me that this is the stage of my case, and then we picked it up from there. After about two years of my encounter with them, I was released on May 2, 2019.
“When you visit the prison, you will see something like 70 convicted inmates but 900 awaiting trials. A policeman who was indicted (while I was there) was released just about a month ago when the Chief Judge visited the prison. That policeman was simply set up by his superiors because of the issues he had with them and he spent about 18 years awaiting trial.
“In prison, I embarked on writing and composing songs. I wrote about seven books. One of the books is about my experience, titled “14 years in prison.” I have the belief that I will meet people who will help me publish it. Also, my first album was launched in December last year. I wrote about 157 songs in detention, but I now have 160 songs.”
Speaking at the event, the Founder of SLNI, Hauwa Abass, said the organisation would continue to assist the needy and fight injustice in Nigeria.
