Archbishop, ex-Gov Obi’s visit excite Onitsha Prisons inmates

The over 700 inmates of the Onitsha Prisons could not hide their joy recently when the

Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha, His Grace Most Rev. Valerian Okeke and the former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Peter Obi paid them a surprise visit.

The day was precisely Easter day, when Christians celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the duo had a common mission: to bring smiles on the faces of the inmates, the majority of whom have spent several years on awaiting trial. Indeed, only 70 of them are serving their jail terms, while the others are waiting for the day they would either be found guilty and sentenced or discharged and acquitted if not found guilty.

Their problem has even been compounded by the strike embarked upon by judicial workers, thereby compelling even those who were detained for minor offences to continue to languish in prison until God knows when.

Archbishop Okeke has for many years now been a regular visitor to the Onitsha Prisons and thus has become the best friend the inmates have had in decades.

He has for several years now celebrated his Christmas, Easter and birthday at the Onitsha Prisons in order to identify with and give them a sense of belonging.

For Obi, the last Easter marked his second visit to the prison; the first was when he visited as governor of Anambra State and as part of his strategy to garner popularity.

Each of the two visitors came with a lot of good wishes, gift items and messages of hope.

In his homily during a special Church service, Archbishop Okeke assured the inmates that in spite of their being in prison, all hopes were not lost for them.

The archbishop who spoke on the topic: “God has His own plan” advised the inmates to repent of their sins and hope on God whom he said has plan for everyone.

According to him, all that the inmates needed to do was to cue into the plan of God with faith and wait for His plan to materialize, citing Abraham as an example of a man who in spite of his old age waited patiently for the promise of God to be fulfilled in his life. He advised Christians to always allow the will of God to prevail rather than work on their own and follow their own will.

On the 2015 general elections, Okeke commended President Goodluck Jonathan for sacrificing his heart desires and allowing peace to prevail.

“I want to commend President Jonathan because he is a father and he understood that Nigeria is more important to him than ego, power and fame. We pray that God should bless him and give us more leaders that are accommodating like him to move us forward,” he said.

The inmates became more jubilant when Archbishop Okeke promised to liaise with the judiciary in order to facilitate the release of those of them who had been granted bail, but were not released due to the strike by the staff of the judiciary.

Also speaking, former Governor Obi expressed gratitude to Archbishop Okeke and the Catholic Church for the special attention they had continued to pay to the inmates of Onitsha Prisons. He pledged to continue to visit the inmates and to always render assistance to them in line with the biblical injunction that men should be their brother’s keeper.

Both Archbishop Okeke and Obi gave assorted gifts to the inmates. While the archbishop provided them with several coolers of rice, one live cow, assorted types of toilet soaps, detergent, toilet rolls, biscuits among others, while Obi gave cash, assorted edibles, soaps and biscuits.

In his speech, after the Church Service, the Deputy Controller of Prison in charge of the Onitsha Prisons, Mr. Pius Ekene Nwankwo, expressed gratitude to the archbishop for the visit and for his sustained assistance to the Onitsha Prisons. He said the contribution of Archbishop Okeke has made Onitsha Prisons one of the best in the country.

He, however, identified some areas of needs in the prison which include assistance to enable the authorities provide technical training for the inmates.

According to him, Onitsha Prisons has a programme for primary and secondary education for inmates with the Open University operating in it, pointing out that high cost was adversely affecting the programme.

The prison boss appealed to the archbishop to assist in finding solution to the congestion in the Onitsha Prisons caused by strike of judicial officers. According to him, out of 780 inmates in the Onitsha Prisons, only 70 were convicts while the rest were awaiting trial.

By Dom Ekpunobi