From death to life · 28-year-old houseboy walks home free after 10 years on death row

By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

When the 28-year-old Ghanaian, Mohammed Ibrahim, set out for Nigeria in July 2003, he never knew he was going to walk through the valley of death. He did not only become a tenant of the Nigerian prisons for 10 years; he was also on death roll all through the period. But, on June 9, 2015, 10 years after he began his sojourn in the Nigerian Prison as a condemned prisoner; he triumphantly walked out of the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Lagos, as a free man.

Following an armed robbery incident at his employer’s residence on March 6, 2005, he was arrested for complicity in the crime. He later appeared before a High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State to answer to the charges of conspiracy and armed robbery.  

A native of Volta region in Ghana, Mohammed, who came to Nigeria in July 2003, when he was just 18 never intended to stay. He was in Nigeria to collect his school fees from his mother who was then living in Ibadan, having lost his father when he was three.

But, his mother’s inability to promptly provide his school fees so that he could back to Ghana to continue his education was the genesis of what could have sadly ended his life. His mother suggested that he should work as a house boy for six months and earn some money to be able to go back to school.

Left with no alternative, Mohammed accepted the offer. He was eventually employed as a houseboy by one Mrs Omolara Adebimpe.  He said his mother’s friend contacted a woman, who linked him with Mrs Adebimpe as a houseboy.

He started work as a houseboy for Mrs Adebimpe in November 2004 with a monthly salary of N3500. His job description included such domestic works as washing of cars, clothes as well as gate-keeping among other menial duties that Madam Adebimpe would want him to do. They also agreed that he would only serve her for six months at the end of which he would receive the salary for six months. Excitedly, Mohammed threw himself into the work.

Genesis of his ordeals

Everything seemed to be working according to plan until March 6, 2005, when men of the underworld attacked Mrs Adebimpe’s compound. From that night, everything changed.

Narrating his ordeal, Mohammed said: “On March 6, 2005, barely four months after I started working with her, a gang of armed robbers attacked our residence. I was inside the boy’s quarters where I slept, when the woman’s dogs started barking around 1:00am. Though, I was not a security man but since there was no security man employed in the house, I thought it wise to look outside and know why the dogs were barking. But, while I was outside looking around to see what the problem was, a man suddenly appeared from my back, called my attention and when I looked back, he pointed a gun at my forehead and ordered me to lock the dogs. Under gun point, I approached the dogs and because I was used to them, I quietly and easily locked them up.

“The robbers had scaled the fence to come into the compound. With the dogs locked up, they entered into the main building where they robbed my madam. For close to one hour that the robbery operation lasted, I was taken hostage by one of the gang members, after they had thoroughly beaten me up because I could not provide any money for them. As the operation was still going on, I didn’t know how the local vigilantes in the area got wind of what was happening. They started blowing their whistle to alert their members of what was happening and that forced the robbers to flee the scene. But, before they left, they took me along with them. They said they were going to sell me to realize the money their boss asked them to get from the operation.

“As we were going, I continued to shout and beg them to have mercy on me. I guess, they were disturbed by the noise coming from me and they felt it could betray them, so they pushed me out of the vehicle by the road side and zoomed off.

“I trekked to my mother’s house to report what happened. She then took me back to Mrs Adebimpe’s house but instead of thanking God that I came back alive, she reported to the police and accused me of conniving with the robbers to attack her residence. I was arrested alongside my mother but when we got to the Oyo State Police Criminal Investigation Department, (CID) at Iyagankun, Ibadan, my mother was released while I was detained.”

Appearance in court and death sentence

He spent over three years in detention, before he was charged to court. After the long tortuous wait as ‘awaiting trial inmate,’ the legal battle commenced. With his appearance before a High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State to answer to the charges of conspiracy and armed robbery, his hope of regaining his freedom and living thereafter was hung in the balance or so it seemed. That was because his mother could not afford a competent legal counsel to defend him. In the end, the cotton fell over his life as the court pronounced him guilty as charged and sentenced him to death by hanging.   

On his appearance before the court and what followed, he said: “I was later brought before a High Court in Ibadan after spending three years and eight month as an awaiting trial inmate to answer charges of conspiracy and armed robbery. After the trial, I was found guilty of conspiring with the robbers to rob my employer of money and some electronics equipment and sentenced to death. Thereafter, I was transferred to Abeokuta Prison because there is no cell for the condemned prisoners in Ibadan. I was taken to Abeokuta Prison where I spent three years and six months. I was taken to Abeokuta Prison on March 27 2009 and I stayed there until September 22, 2012 before I was moved to the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos.”

However, the legal battle did not end at the High Court; it was taken to Appeal Court in Ibadan by a human right lawyer, one Barr Okoli, on pro bono basis. But unfortunately for Mohammed, the Appeal Court also upheld the verdict of the High Court, thereby sealing Ibrahim’s hope of living again.

But, as a man who has been destined to live, another human rights lawyer stumbled over his file and took up the legal battle to the Supreme Court. To confirm the divine pronouncement that Ibrahim would not die prematurely, the Supreme Court jettisoned the old tradition, which hinders an appellate court from re-appraising the decision of the lower court and re-appraised his case.

Recall the case of Morufu Bolanle, who was also sentenced to death for armed robbery. When the matter got to the Supreme Court, the verdict of both the High Court and Appeal Court was upheld by the Supreme Court under the guise that it is not the duty of an appellate court to re-appraise the decision of the lower court, and so should not delve into the findings of the lower court.

The Supreme Court in this case took time to re-appraise the decision of the High Court and Appeal Court. At the end of its re-appraisal, the death verdict was upturned and Mohammed was discharged and acquitted.

Supreme Court judgment that freed him

The Supreme Court judgment, which upturned Mohammed’s death sentence, took time to crosscheck all the evidences of the prosecution witnesses. At the end, it found out that the entire evidence by the prosecution cast suspicion on Mohammed’s role in the robbery incident and concluded that it was unsafe to have convicted him on such evidence.

The judgment delivered by Justice Kumai Bayang Aka’ahs JSC reads: “I read the draft judgment prepared by my learned brother, Nweze JSC. I agree with his reasoning and conclusion that the appeal has merit despite the concurrent findings made by the two lower courts.

“The charge for which the accused/appellant was found guilty and sentenced to death was that he committed armed robbery at Igouil Petrol Station, Boluwaji in Ibadan. However, the evidence adduced by the prosecution witnesses and especially, PW2, Mrs Omolara Adebimpe, the victim of the robbery, which linked the appellant with the robbery was based on suspicion. In her evidence, PW2 stated that before she went to bed on the night of the robbery, she saw the appellant sleeping inside her car and before she retired to bed, she released her dogs from their cage but when she came out by 1:00am on March 7, 2005, she noticed that the dogs were caged and suspected that the only person who could have locked them up was the appellant. She then instructed him to release them. At a point, the dogs continued to bark and so she suspected that the appellant was harbouring a stranger in his room and this accounted for the barking of the dogs.

“PW3, Olabode Adebimpe, who is the son of PW2, stated that he first heard the voice of the appellant speaking to one of the robbers telling him to carry the electronics. He later saw the appellant’s face when the torchlight was flashed. He said the appellant showed his (PW3) wristwatch, which he kept on the refrigerator to the robber and that it was the appellant, who discussed with one of the robbers about using PW2’s car to carry the electronics.

“The evidence given by PW2 and PW3 is that the robbery took place at N0 1 and 3, Bode Adebimpe Close, Atagba Road, Boluwaji area of Ibadan. No evidence was led to show the proximity of Igouil Petrol Station to the private residence of PW2 at N0s 1 and 3 Bode Adebimpe Close, Atagba Road, Boluwaji area of Ibadan. There is therefore a discrepancy between the location of the alleged crime (locus criminis) and the evidence led. In spite of this discrepancy, the prosecution did not apply to amend the charge to align the evidence adduced to the charge. The law is that where the charge laid is at variance with the evidence tendered; the conviction of the appellant will not stand.

“There is material contradiction between the evidence of PW2 and PW3 on the role played by the appellant in the removal of electronic items which the robbers took away from PW2’s house. While PW3 said he overheard the appellant discussing that the robbers should use PW2’s car to carry the electronics, PW2 in answer to a question under cross-examination stated that she is still having her car. There is also evidence that the robbers scaled through the fence when they made their escape. Although, the learned trial judge disbelieved the evidence of the appellant that the robbers threatened him with a gun and this was why he could not do anything when he heard the robbers beating up PW2, the Judge found out that there was ample evidence from the testimonies of PW2 and PW3 as well as that of the appellant that the robbers were armed. PW2 also testified that the robbers threatened to take away the appellant and sell him in order to realize the amount they were looking for to deliver to their boss, but she pleaded with them not to carry out their threat because his people might think she was the one that used him for ritual killing.

“With this evidence coming from PW2, it was not safe to convict the appellant of armed robbery and proceed to sentence him to death. The entire evidence by the prosecution no doubt cast suspicion on the appellant’s role in the robbery saga and it was unsafe to have convicted him on such evidence.

“It is on account of this and the more detailed reasons contained in the judgment of my learned brother, Nweze JSC that I too find merit in the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentence of death by hanging for armed robbery, which was passed on the appellant by the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan and affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Ibadan on March 27, 2012. In its place, the appellant is acquitted and discharged. Appeal allowed.”

With the above judgment text, Mohammed was rescued from the jaws of death. He walked triumphantly out of Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, proclaiming that no matter to what extent truth is suppressed; it must surely come to light.

‘I knew I would not die’

To live for over seven years with the knowledge that the hangmen could come for one’s neck at any time was even more than death itself but Mohammed lived all through the period with an unparalleled faith. He never lost hope of living. So, how did he manage to survive such harrowing experience? He said: “I never thought for once that I was going to be killed, even though I had been condemned to death by the law. I knew I was innocent. I also believed that since I have not been condemned by God but by man, I have every chance to live, because I know the God I am serving. The worst I had envisaged was that the Supreme Court could commute the death sentence to some years of imprisonment, which means that I would one day be a free man.

“Besides, throughout the time I spent in prisons, no condemned prisoner was executed except those who died of a natural cause. About 17 persons died of one disease or the other. That again gave me the hope that I would not be killed.”

Prison experiences

No man goes to prison and comes out without a lesson. It could be positive or negative but either way, a lesson must be learnt. For Mohammed, prison is just like a university where you learn a lot of things. “It is also a place where you see different people with different characters. It is a place where anybody can be anytime.

“Even though, we are condemned prisoners, once you obey the prison rules, you will be treated like others who are not condemned. Throughout my stay in both Abeokuta and Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, I have never been punished because I had always obeyed the rules.

“The only problem we had was the quality of food we ate. The quality of food they gave us was too poor. Even dogs cannot eat the food they were giving us but I thank God that I survived all the hard times because I have somebody like Pastor Olujobi who always sent money to me,” he said.

My mission in Nigeria

If Mohammed had not come to Nigeria, he probably would have been a graduate today. So, why did he come to Nigeria in the first place? He recounts: “I lost my father at the tender age of three. I was a student in Ghana before I came to Nigeria. My mother was then living in Ibadan. So, after I wrote my Junior WAEC, I was to go for my Senior Secondary education but there was no money for my school fees. The fee was almost two million Ghana Cedis, which was an equivalent of over N30, 000. And because there was no way I could raise that kind of money, I travelled all the way from Ghana to Nigeria to meet my mother for financial assistance. But, my mother didn’t have the money either. So, she arranged for me to work as a houseboy for six months, to be able to raise the money and go back to Ghana to continue with my education.”

Role of CJMR

The Supreme Court discharged and acquitted Mohammed on March 27, 2015 but he finally regained his total freedom on June 9; almost three months after the apex court’s judgment. Even though, the Supreme Court had discharged and acquitted him, he would still have remained in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons if not for the efforts of Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi, the Director of Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR); a Christian, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), based in Ibadan.

 That much was acknowledged by Mohammed, when he said: “Even with the Supreme Court judgment since March, I would still have been in the prison now if not for Pastor Olujobi. He is the one that followed it up and made sure that he got the release warrant, with which I was finally set free. Right from when I was awaiting trial, he and his organization have been there for me. Even when the Appeal Court delivered its judgment, he was there and he encouraged me not to lose hope. He took me like his own son and I will ever remain grateful to him.”

Pastor Olujobi comments

Pastor Olujobi described the Supreme Court judgment as very unique and an act of God. “I have never seen a judgment where Supreme Court over-ruled the judgment of the lower courts in a robbery case. I am not sure if it has ever happened. So, I see what has happened as an act of God,” he said.

He also expressed satisfaction with the way and manner the present crop of judges at the apex court handle judgments of the lower courts, especially their resolve to review lower courts’ judgments and not just uphold them.

He said: “There are lots of armed robbery cases, which when properly looked into will lead to the release of those involved but because of the tradition of the Supreme Court not to interfere with the judgments of the lower courts, such persons suffer unjustly.

“There are few cases of lower courts’ judgment at hand, which I am quite sure would be upturned if the Supreme Court looks into such judgments. So, I commend the present crop of judges at the Supreme Court for finding it proper to thoroughly look into the judgments of the lower courts. They should not always adhere to the advice of the prosecution counsel because most times, such advice is wrong.”

He expressed happiness that justice was finally served in the case of Mohammed Ibrahim, but lamented that if he did not follow up the judgment, he would still have remained behind bars even when the apex court had declared him a free man. 

He said: “I am so happy because we have been praying that God should intervene in his matter. Thank God that today he is a free man. This judgment was given on March 27 but when we waited for the release warrant and we didn’t see it, we wrote a letter to the Supreme Court and I took it personally to Abuja. I also appreciate the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court for attending to our request. If not for our intervention, he might still be in prison even in the next three months.”

DCP Olaniran comments

Also expressing happiness over what has happened to Mohammed Ibrahim, the officer in charge of Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Deputy Comptroller of Prisons, M.O. Olaniran described the development as achievement on the part of the prison, insisting that it has always been their prayer that whoever comes into the prison, as a student, graduates and goes home a better person.

He said: “I feel happy because it is an achievement on our part. It is just like you have been working and it is time to reap the fruit of your labour. Our prayer has always been that when they come in as students admitted into the prison, they should graduate. They should be discharged; they should come out. We are not praying that they should die there. So, if somebody is coming out like this, we are always very happy because the society gave him to us and we are bound to give him back to the society. So, we are giving him back to the society; it is an achievement that he didn’t die in our custody.”

Like Pastor Olujobi, he also expressed at what has happened saying, “This is the first I am seeing the Supreme Court quash a death sentence and declare the condemned prisoner innocent. In most cases, what they used to do is to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment or some years of imprisonment.”