Wasted Years: Nigerian Man Regains Freedom after Spending 11 Years and 7 Months in Prison Awaiting Trial
- After close to 12 years of awaiting trial, a Nigerian man simply identified as Godswill has regained his freedom
- Godswill's problem started sometime in November 2010 while he was returning from visiting his parents
- The man who was a welder at that time was accosted by two men who claimed to be police officers and later on taken to Ajeromi Police Station
Thanks to Headfort Foundation, a Nigerian man named Godswill has been released from prison after spending 11 years and 7 months awaiting trial on allegedly trumped-up charges.
The foundation via its Twitter handle shared a picture of the freed man as they shared his touching story.
Source: Twitter
Godswill was arrested in 2010
According to the narration, Godswill worked as a welder and resided at Ikorodu, Lagos state.
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In the course of his returning from a visit to his parents sometime in November 2010, Godswill was said to have been accosted by two men who claimed to be police officers.
The men beat him up over his refusal to allow them to search him and afterwards took him to Ajeromi Police Station, Lagos.
He remained in that police station for 2 months without being charged to court for any crime.
When he was eventually taken to a Magistrate court in January 2011 on grounds of armed robbery, his case was at the court for 2 years awaiting Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advice.
His case lingered and moved from one court to the other because he had no legal representation and couldn't afford one.
In March 2022 however, a partner and second legal representative of the foundation identified as Abdu-Salaam Abbas took over the case and filed an application for striking out.
The court granted the application and discharged Godswill.
See the tweet below:
Netizens react
@anthony61481728 said:
"Then what would happen to those who put him there, and did the court compensate him? I am so sad I didn't read law, if not I would sue so many people by doing Probono it is bad."
@ivoh_ivoh said:
"This is what they mean by 'may Nigeria not happen to you'. More than a decade taken out of a young man's life. Will the policemen be held responsible? No. Will govt do anything for the victim? No."
@themavericktoki said:
"Those two cops who arrested him? What about them? I believe there will be an arrest log and booking reference. They took 11 years from a man for nothing. I believe they dont have the rights to be cops. Also the police should pay compensation."
@OlukanniColly said:
"But in all sincerity, people like Godswill whose lives had been tampered with by the unjust justice system of Nigeria even by months needs be COMPENSATED. For good almost 12 years, what will he start back with and what hope? These should be considered. Thank God for the freedom."
Man regains freedom after spending 5 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a Nigerian man had regained his freedom after spending 5 years in jail and losing a leg over a crime he didn't commit.
The disclosure was made by a Twitter influencer identified as Oluyemi Fasipe with the handle @YemieFASH.
Oluyemi said he saw the man in court after he was discharged as no evidence could be established against him.
According to him, the man was shot by operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) during his arrest and had to be amputated in the leg.
Source: Legit.ng
