Curious bazaar in Awka Prisons

These three men Ejike Mbonu, Emeka Okike, Chijioke Adiligo are presently inmates of Awka prisons as
awaiting trial men. They  are standing trial for allegedly receiving stolen properties and being accessories after the fact of murder. Their case is currently pending before an Awka high court. The penalty prescribed for the charges proffered against them are fourteen years imprisonment and life jail respectively. These punishments are contained in sections 393 and 277 Criminal Code Law, Revised Laws of Anambra State, 1991, for the first and second counts respectively .
  Effort to confirm when their case started as well as how long the three persons have been in prison remand yielded no  fruit. But by design or default, they were listed among inmates that deserve immediate intervention of Anambra Chief judge on his annual prison visit, last Friday.
  Drama however depicted their inclusion. And it did not amuse anyone, particularly the presiding chief judge. This followed an application for their bail by counsel for the three accused persons. He predicated his application on life-threatening illnesses of Ejike Mbonu, Emeka Okike and Chijioke Adiligo. He was relying on medical report allegedly prepared by doctors attached with the prison which have diagnosed applicants with HIV and Hepatitis at various critical stages.
  But contents of this medical report failed to sway chief judge's discretion in favour of the application for bail. This is because director of public prosecution informed chief judge that the said medical report was doctored  by doctors of Awka prisons.
  According to him, the accused persons  had earlier relied on it for bail at their courts where they are standing trial and failed when these courts were faced with medical report from another doctor which showed no trace of such illnesses allegedly diagnosed on the three men by Awka prison doctor's own report. Director of Public prosecution also told court that three witnesses already have given evidence, and they intend to call one more on July 7, 2015. He told court to disregard the purported medical report as a ploy by the accused persons in concert with prison doctor to truncate their trial by going for bail when in law and fact they do not deserve such facility.
  Chief judge therefore refused to grant them bail, and ordered that their ase should continue at the regular before which it has been pending.
  A question stands poignant even at this juncture. What does Awka prisons stand to gain by doctoring a medical report to abet any inmate's plan to enjoy legal remedy when they do not deserve  such remedy in law? But another incident may answer this question more poigreantly..
  Chibuike Nwogu is another inmate of Awka prisons. According to prison authorities, he is a juvenile standing trial for stealing and has been in custody since August 28, 2012. For this his case came up for chief judge's quick intervention, Awka prisons list for chief judge's visit said. And luck was about coming Chibuike's way when OC Legal Anambra Police command intervened. He told chief judge that only Awka prisons know how they come up with the 16 years which they ascribed to Chibuike's age in the list before him.
  According to OC Legal, Chibuike's true age should be well over 25 years by now. He based his calculation on the fact that at arraignment three years ago, Chibuike's age on his charge sheet was put at 22 years. And that was the figure accused person gave police in his congressional statement. He wondered how prison authorities came up with 16 years of age for Chibuike.
  Further scrutiny into Chibuike's case by chief judge, we learnt, put prison authorities in a more suffocating corner. Explanations by a prison superintendent that they rely on figures volunteered by inmates on arrival did not rescue prison authority from its vulnerable position. This is because, as chief judge noted no other source will provide more credible age of an inmate than his remand warrant and charge sheet.
  But another angle to Chibuike's case further exposed Awka prisons. Police OC Legal informed chief judge that Chibuike actually pleaded guilty to two  counts in his charge. And this being so, he ought to be serving the court sentence imposed on him on these counts while trial continues on those counts he pleaded not guilty. Trial magistrate before whom Chibuike is standing trial corroborated OC Leal. Their separate files whose endorsements were made known to chief judge agreed on all accounts.
  A startled presiding chief judge showed great displeasure on this mix-up, and ordered Chibuike to continue serving his sentence as a convict.
  And our question returns. What did Awka prisons do wrongly here?
  Investigation shows that Chibuike is standing trial for stealing and burglary. And that by provision of law in Anambra State they carry seven and fourteen years of imprisonment respectively, upon conviction. The second offence, it was further learnt, depends on whether the act occurred in day time or at night.
  Yet, authorities of Awka prison were prepared - indeed willing - to play ball with these kind of precarious circumstances. They will give no hoot even if it ripens into illegality or ultimately defeats ends of justice.
  Similar incidents which cropped up that day and further laid underbellies of Awka prison to sunlight equally raised eyebrows. In one instance an accused person standing trial for murder under section 274 (1) Criminal Code Law of Anambra State, Moses Nwanna Aforka had his name also smuggled into list of inmates in urgent need of chief judge's attention. His case is exactly on all fours with that of Godswill Okpara, even though each of them is standing his own trial separately.
 it was finds out that parties have closed their case in each proceedings and matter also adjourned for final address. Again, but for director of public prosecution's diligence in the two cases, proceedings against each accused person may have been surreptiously tampered with. It was also learnt that different high courts trying each case had earlier rejected separate motions for their bail. Does it still remain moot, a question may be raised, an obvious agenda to hand these two persons some respites already denied them by regular courts?
  It is interesting to note that one of these two cases was earlier adjourned for final address on July 22, 2015. This illustrates due diligence of the courts which exercised their discretion in favour of accelerated hearing, in each case, rather than bail.
  This returns an earlier question over what could possibly propel prison authorities to throw its facilities behind these chains of distortion, even if unknowingly. But our findings  offer some explanations which may nevertheless indict concerned inmates as well as their keepers. An interview with an inmate John Okeke (not his real name) throws more light on this dimension.
  According to him, authorities of Awka prisons have over these years found goldmine in jail delivery visits of chief judges. But there is none to expose this ambush to justice. Hence, in all cases that are listed for chief judge's proceedings money changes hand between inmates who can afford it and authorities assigned to compile deserving cases, citizen John saidt.
  He refused to name any particular officer but maintained that monetary gratification to induce their inclusion, by affluent inmates is common knowledge inside Awka prisons. For this, citizen John compares this drift to an annual bazaar. Those  that can bid highest prices will get their names into various categories of lists for that special proceedings of Chief judge's court. It does not matter whether circumstances come within the criterion prescribed by law.
  Many inmates who truly deserve chief judge's intervention, whether on genuine cases of life threatening illnesses or extreme, brood in their cells while “ that annual 'kingsway' bazaar” end up in favour of non-deserving inmates, citizen John further lamented. He ended by sending passionate appeal to Hon Justice P.N Umeadi, the state chief judge, to see how he can come in for rescue of inmates like him.
  Some inmates in his shoes, he stated, have either remained in remand beyond number of years provided for offences alleged against them. Or worse still, he continued, some of them twirl in dire straits of ill-health with none to include them on any of the lists for each year. A situation as National Light learnt, that factors in no small way for spread of epidemics inside their cells almost always.
  Every efforts to speak with A. O. Yufuf, comptroller pf prisons in charge of Anambra State prison command, proved abortive.