From death to life: How 38-yr-old man was acquitted after seven yrs on death row · His wife abandoned after death sentence

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)
“God is awesome. Nobody could understand Him because his ways are different from our ways. He restores hope to the hopeless. He makes the dry bones to rise again. He is wonderful and incomprehensible.” Those were the correct English translation of what 38-year-old Ahmed Salami, from Okene in Igbira Local Government Area of kogi State, muttered in ‘Pidgin English’ on July 8, 2013, after he miraculously escaped the hangman’s noose. Ahmed had spent seven years in prison on death row, having been sentenced to death by hanging by an Abeokuta High Court for armed robbery. But like the saying goes: “Man proposes but God disposes.” God’s awesomeness manifested when a human rights lawyer, who preferred anonymity stumbled over Ahmed’s case file at a High Court in Ibadan, and decided to seek justice for the helpless Ahmed who had resigned his fate to God.

Ahmed’s joy knew no bound as he prostrated to the officer-in-charge of Kirikiri Prisons, DSP Tinuoye before he finally bade goodbye to the prison yard.

Going down memory lane, he said: “I was an Okada rider and at the same time an apprentice tailor in Lagos, before my ordeal. I was living with my mother in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. On December 21, 2006, two men met me at Oshodi and asked me to take them to Sango-Ota; I told them I was not conversant with Sango but they promised to direct me. I carried them and as we got to a point, they asked me to stop in front of one house and wait for them to pick something around the place. The next thing I heard was ‘Ole! Ole!!’ meaning ‘Thief! Thief!! And when I looked back, it was the two men that I brought there that were being pursued. I immediately kick-started my motorbike and was already running away when a man jumped onto my bike and in the process; it shook my hand and both of us fell. As we fell, the surging mob closed in on us. The two men escaped till today. It was later I knew that the man that jumped onto my bike and who was eventually arrested with me was the one who informed the men I took to the place that there was money there. But honestly, I didn’t know they were robbers because I didn’t see or notice any gun with them that day. As investigation continued, another man was arrested. He was also alleged to have informed the man who finally brought the robbers that there was money in that house. We were mercilessly beaten; we were beaten to a comma but as they were beating me, I was still shouting that I was not a thief but only an Okada rider. I shouted repeatedly that I was not a thief but it didn’t help matters as they kept on beating me. It was only God that saved me from being lynched. Even when we got to the police station at Sango, I still stood my ground that I was not a thief. My mother was then contacted and when she came, she told them that since I was born, I have never stolen. After some weeks at Sango Police Station, we were transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Elewe Ero in Abeokuta. It was at the state CID that my mother was asked to pay N250, 000 for my freedom, but she couldn’t afford it. They tortured me but I still maintained my stand that I was not a thief. When the man who was arrested with me was tortured, he mentioned another man who informed him about the money before he contacted the robbers. They asked him if he knew me and he said no. He told the police that he didn’t know me; he only knew the two men that escaped; my passengers. So, because my mother couldn’t raise the N250,000 she was asked to pay for my freedom, I was charged to court and eventually found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to death by hanging. I had spent six five years in Abeokuta Prisons as a condemned criminal waiting for the hangman before I was transferred to the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Lagos in 2011. Ever since then, I have been in prison, praying and waiting for the day it will be until I was told that I have been granted freedom because I had been found innocent of the crime.”

Experience   

Ahmed, whose wife was already two months pregnant when he was arrested, said his wife abandoned him after he was sentenced to death by hanging. His wife had already given birth to a baby boy and they were even visiting him in the prison before the sentence came. He said he suffered so much when he was at ‘Awaiting Trial’ because he didn’t have any person to speak or fight for him. But, he didn’t know that God was perfecting his release for him until the human rights lawyer stepped into his matter. Still recounting his experiences, he said: “Some people die inside the cell as Awaiting Trial inmates. The food they give us is terrible. Sometimes, you will find cockroach inside the beans they give you. Inside the prison, I drew closer to my God. Before my incarceration, I was just sitting on the fence. My mother is a Christian and my father, a Muslim but I was not attending either. But inside the prison, I became a serious Muslim; always going to the Mosque to pray.

“I also was into farming at kirikiri Prisons. We were into such farm work as the production of vegetables like Spinach, pepper, tomatoes etc. So, as I am leaving this prison now, I will contact one of my maternal cousins who will help me with the transport fare to go back to my village. I want to go back to farming in my village. That was even what I was doing with my father before I joined my mother in Lagos.”  

Having gone through the valley of death and come out unscathed, the Okenne-born Ahmed cannot say he didn’t learn a great lesson. Commenting on lessons learnt from his ordeal, he said: “I have learnt that before you do anything, you have to shine your eyes very well. I have suffered for what I didn’t do. I will never come to Lagos again in my life. I was in prison when my mother died; I was informed. I even dreamt about it before the news of her death. She visited me one week before she died. My father is old and down with stroke now. I even spoke with him this morning and I informed him that I have been set free. I have learnt my lessons but I thank God for giving me a second chance.”

“For the man who came and rescued me from the jaws of death, I can’t thank him enough. All I know is that God will not abandon him. God will always be with him, prosper him and give him the courage and strength to continue fighting for the downtrodden,” he prayed.

It is a common knowledge in our environment that when a prisoner is released, especially those who were on death row, our government do not do anything for them; they are just left to go to anywhere. Most often, it is the Prison Officers who would contribute money and clothes to give to such persons as they leave the prison yard. But in the case of Ahmed, his luck stretched beyond escaping hangman’s noose. The Director of Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation; a Christian, Non-Governmental Organisation based in Ibadan, Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi was on hand to take Ahmed away.

Pastor Olujobi told our reporter that the major concern of his organisation was on the rehabilitation and reintegration of every inmate who has been incarcerated for a long time into the society. “We know that definitely such a person would face the challenges of housing, getting in contact with relations and also the temptation of going back to crime. So, we try to see how we can assist in rehabilitating and reintegrating these kinds of people back to the society,” he said.

Basis for appeal

According to the human rights lawyer, who preferred not to be named as he insisted he did not fight for Ahmed’s freedom for people to thank him, he took up the case when he discovered the inconsistencies in the judgment that sentenced him to death.

Pastor Olujobi informed that the basis of appeal was lack of diligent prosecution of the case. He said: “The counsel to the appellant observed that none of the prosecution witnesses gave evidence to establish that there was any conspiracy. It was submitted that the trial judge did not properly evaluate the evidence before him. It was also observed that the trial judge did not even refer to the evidence of the defence counsel before passing his judgement.”

Looking at the judgment sheet made available to our reporter by Pastor Olujobi, the ruling by Justice Obietonbara Daniel-kalio of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan read: “In the final analysis, I am satisfied that it was perverse to have convicted the appellant based on a confessional statement that failed all the tests, which should have made it acceptable. I am also satisfied that the trial judge failed to properly evaluate the evidence before him. The cumulative effect of this is that the case against the appellant was not proved beyond reasonable doubt. The conviction and sentence of the appellant by the trial court is hereby set aside. In its place, the appellant is hereby discharged and acquitted.”

With the above court verdict, Ahmed Salami’s death-bound journey suddenly halted. His neck that was almost close to the noose already set by the hangman, narrowly escaped. He became, not only discharged but also acquitted of the crime. Indeed, he became a free man at last