Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has released Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, an Abia citizen, and two other citizens of Nigeria after spending 26 years in prison on death row.
Igbojionu, a power generator dealer, who hails from Ikwuano LGA of Abia, was arrested in 1999 and sentenced to death in 2003 on the allegation that he bought a stolen generator.
Presenting the released individuals on Saturday to Governor Otti, Simon Oshi from Enugu State, who contacted the Governor for his intervention, said that he got the information about the case through a social media influencer, Olumide Ogunsanwo, popularly known as “Sea King”.
Oshi, who said that he went to the Kirikiri Prison with the influencer, together with some lawyers, said he discovered that Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu is from Abia State.
He noted that after he informed Governor Otti about the situation, Otti verified the case from his Attorney General and swung into action to secure the freedom of the three persons.
Receiving the condemned but rescued individuals, Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, Olawale Adediji, and the other one who could not join them on their journey to Abia State, Governor Alex Otti thanked Oshi and the social media influencer for their alertness and doggedness.
He thanked his colleague, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State for his role in the release of the death row individuals.
Governor Otti, who assured that his administration would give them the necessary support to bounce back to life, directed the Commissioner for Local Government and his Power and Public Utilities counterpart, to work with the relevant departments of government to ensure that they were reintegrated back into the society.
While thanking the Governor on behalf of his freed inmates, Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu narrated that as a dealer in generating sets, he bought a generator from one Segun Ajibade in 1999, and sold it only to see the person that earlier sold the generator to him, coming back after two weeks to his shop with the police.
According to him, in what appears to be an arrangement, they beat him up and forced him to sign a statement they wrote by themselves while refusing to let him read through the statement.
He was taken to court and sentenced to death, where he stayed from 1999 when he was remanded in prison till 2003 when he was actually sentenced to death until 2025, making it 26 years of incarceration.
He thanked the Almighty God for using Governor Otti to spare their lives.
