Chief Godwin Ezeemo, leader of PPA in Anambra(middle) flanked on both side by his children and wellwisher during his 50th birthday marked in Awka prison with inmates.
The plight of inmates serving various sentence and awaiting
trials in prisons around Anambra State have been described as akin to being
condemned in hell fire.
The Assistant Controllers of Awka and Aguata Prisons, Messrs
Mathew Kalu and Paschal Ibegbulem respectively revealed this while welcoming
the leader of the Progressive Peoples Alliance(PPA) and publisher of Orient
Daily Newspaper, Mr Goddy Ezeemo to the prisons.
Ezeemo, a foremost philanthropist was in in Awka and Aguata
prisons to celebrate his 59th Birthday with inmates of the prison.
Kalu, Assistant Controller of Awka Prisons in his address
said, “This prison was built in 1904, you can imagine how old this structure
is, and it was built to accommodate 338 inmates but today we have 437 of them
here. When came here last year, it
was even 490 inmates and we have been working to decongest the place.
“Some cells have as much as 50 persons, and at night what
the inmates do is that while 25 are sleeping on the floor, 25 others have to be
standing, so that the available space will be enough for them. They have been
doing this with a good accord.”
Kalu and Ibegbulem who spoke in separate fora said that it
is still unclear to them why government has abandoned the inmates in a place
that was supposed to be a reformatory place, saying except the funds meant for
them were being diverted somewhere.
He said that besides the meals which are still not rich in
content, the government has totally abandoned prisons without any form of
subvention to help take care of inmates, and that save for churches and other
good spirited individuals, the inmates in the various prisons would have all
died.
“The roofs of the various cells are leaking, and each time
it rains at night, the inmates have to remain away and also pack themselves in
one corner. It is a horrible situation. The inmates don’t have water here, and
sometimes they have to drink one sachet of water several times just to conserve
it.
“Virtually nothing is happening here and we are calling on
government not to forget these ones who got here through one problem or the
other. That is why we are very appreciative of people like Chief Ezeemo who
have the resources to celebrate in the choicest places but choose to come to
the prisons to mark their birthday.”
In his response, Chief Ezeemo said he Has always marked his
birthday silently with his family, but this year he decided to do something
different by coming to people who have been forgotten to celebrate with them.
“I am not happy over the condition I find you people, but I
must say that I am just an individual. The overall responsibility should be on
the government, but whatever you get from individuals like us, we pray you use
it to kake care of yourselves. You must know that this is not a permanent place
for you. The difference between you and I is just luck, so once you get out of
here, do well to utilize your time positively.” Ezeemo said.
No comments:
Post a Comment