30 Years Behind Bars: The agony of inmates waiting for justice, by Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi

In this piece, Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi examines the human cost of prolonged incarceration in Nigeria through cases of inmates who died awaiting justice or executive mercy. It highlights alleged wrongful convictions, delayed trials, questionable evidence and calls for timely hearings, accountability and humane justice

For some inmates in Nigeria’s correctional facilities, the greatest punishment is not the sentence imposed by a court but the years spent waiting for justice. Some enter prison as young men and women only to emerge old and broken, while others die behind bars without seeing the final resolution of their cases.

For Mrs Onome Enaya, the walls of the Benin Correctional Centre, popularly known as White House, along Sapele Road, Benin City, became the boundaries of an existence that lasted approximately three decades.

She reportedly entered prison over an allegation of ritual killing involving a baby and was subsequently sentenced to death alongside her younger brother.

Beyond the gravity of the allegation, however, her case raises troubling questions about prolonged incarceration, the administration of justice and the fate of petitions seeking executive intervention.

According to information received by the Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR), Enaya spent more than 19 years awaiting the conclusion of her case. By the time she died in early 2026, she had reportedly spent approximately 30 years behind bars.

Her death in custody left unanswered questions about the circumstances surrounding her conviction, the length of her incarceration and the fate of petitions reportedly submitted on her behalf.

Her younger brother was said to be among more than 500 inmates who escaped during the October 2020 jailbreak in Benin City. His reported escape, however, did not resolve the questions surrounding their conviction.

For Enaya, the opportunity for a possible reconsideration of her case or intervention by the relevant authorities reportedly never materialised before her death.

Her experience raises a fundamental question about Nigeria’s criminal justice system: what happens when the process of seeking justice becomes a punishment in itself?

YEARS OF WAITING, LIVES PUT ON HOLD

Behind the walls of Nigeria’s correctional facilities are thousands of people whose lives have been disrupted by prolonged criminal proceedings.

Some are awaiting trial, others have been convicted but are pursuing appeals, while some are serving sentences and seeking executive intervention through petitions for mercy.

Although their legal circumstances differ, many share the same experience of prolonged separation from their families, uncertainty about their future and the psychological burden of incarceration.

For an awaiting-trial inmate, every adjournment can mean another month behind bars. Proceedings that should ordinarily be concluded within a reasonable period can become protracted ordeals because of missing witnesses, inadequate investigations, congested court dockets, lack of legal representation and repeated applications for adjournment.

The consequences can be devastating.

A young man arrested in his twenties may spend his most productive years in detention. A woman separated from her children may watch them grow up without her, while a family breadwinner may lose his livelihood, property and relationships.

Some inmates become ill, others grow old, while some die before their cases are finally resolved.

Even when an accused person is eventually discharged and acquitted, no judgment can restore the years spent behind bars.

The constitutional presumption of innocence, a fundamental principle of criminal justice, becomes painfully abstract when an accused person spends years in custody before a court determines whether the allegations against him or her have been proved.

RASHIDAT ABDUL: A MOTHER WHO DIED WAITING

Enaya’s experience is not an isolated case.

Another woman whose story illustrates the human cost of prolonged incarceration was Rashidat Abdul, who was sentenced to death alongside her son, Abdulrasheed Mutairu, reportedly aged 17 at the time of his arrest.

They were charged with the murder of their landlord, Samuel Oloyede, in Ekiti State, alongside two other defendants.

On April 7, 2020, the Ekiti State High Court convicted all four defendants and sentenced them to death. Their appeals to the Court of Appeal were unsuccessful.

However, following an examination of the case, CJMR raised concerns about the circumstantial evidence relied upon by the prosecution and whether it sufficiently established the individual responsibility of each defendant.

The organisation subsequently appealed to the Ekiti State Government to consider exercising its constitutional prerogative of mercy. The appeal was publicly reported on January 29, 2025.

Tragically, according to information received by CJMR, Rashidat died in prison on November 25, 2025, while awaiting the final determination of her appeal before the Supreme Court.

Her death occurred approximately 10 months after the organisation’s public appeal for mercy.

It left troubling questions about the fate of a family whose mother and son were both caught in the criminal justice system, with the mother dying before the final resolution of the legal process.

What is the present legal situation of her son and the other surviving defendants? Was the petition for mercy considered before her death?

For Rashidat, the answers came too late, if they came at all.

WHEN AN ADJOURNMENT BECOMES A LIFE SENTENCE

The experiences of Enaya and Rashidat bring into focus the plight of inmates whose cases remain unresolved for years.

For those awaiting trial, uncertainty can become an additional punishment. They do not know when they will return home, whether the next court date will produce meaningful progress or whether another adjournment will prolong their ordeal.

Their families also bear the consequences. Some sell property or exhaust their savings to pay lawyers, while others travel long distances to attend proceedings only to discover that their cases have been adjourned.

Children grow up without their parents, marriages collapse and businesses disappear. The stigma associated with criminal allegations may also persist even after an accused person is discharged.

The situation is particularly troubling where an inmate cannot meet bail conditions or secure adequate legal representation.

Bail is intended to safeguard an accused person’s liberty while ensuring attendance at trial. In practice, however, some defendants remain in custody because they cannot satisfy the financial or other conditions imposed by the court.

For indigent defendants, inability to meet bail conditions can translate into months or years behind bars before guilt has been established.

The tragedy is that prolonged detention can destroy a person’s life even when the prosecution eventually fails to prove its case.

WHEN THE EVIDENCE RAISES QUESTIONS

The Founder and Executive Director of CJMR, Pastor Hezekiah Deboboye Olujobi, said the organisation’s experience examining criminal cases had exposed troubling questions about the quality of investigations and the reliability of evidence underpinning some convictions.

He maintains that the seriousness of a criminal allegation must never be substituted for proof.

According to him, offences such as murder, rape and ritual killing deserve thorough investigation and diligent prosecution. Their gravity, he argues, should make investigators and prosecutors more meticulous, rather than less concerned about the quality of evidence.

One of the cases that influenced the organisation’s work involved a man accused of killing his wife for ritual purposes in Ibadan in 1993.

The man was sentenced to death, and his appeals, including one before the Supreme Court, were unsuccessful.

However, Olujobi said that when CJMR obtained and examined the case file in 2007, he noticed inconsistencies between the allegation and aspects of the medical evidence.

He also discovered a dissenting judgment at the Supreme Court in which a justice favoured the man’s discharge and acquittal.

Although the dissenting opinion did not overturn the conviction, it raised questions about the evidence on which the majority decision was based.

Following further advocacy, the man regained his freedom after spending approximately 26 years in prison.

His release, however, could not restore the years he had lost.

Another case in Ogun State involved two individuals convicted alongside the actual perpetrators of a crime. According to Olujobi, the perpetrators reportedly admitted their involvement and maintained that the other defendants were innocent.

CJMR subsequently examined the circumstances of their arrests and the evidence presented during the prosecution. The organisation submitted its findings to the Ogun State Board of Mercy and advised the Attorney-General to visit the affected inmates.

The Attorney-General reportedly complied.

Olujobi said the intervention eventually resulted in the release of the two individuals after approximately 24 years in prison.

According to him, these cases demonstrate the importance of independently examining credible allegations of wrongful conviction.

THE COST OF A FAILED INVESTIGATION

Another troubling case involved a couple, Korede Odubela and his wife, who were accused alongside several others of killing their daughter for ritual purposes in Ogun State.

According to CJMR, the defendants were arrested from different locations, including Odogbolu, Ijebu-Igbo, Ago-Iwoye and Ijebu-Ode.

The organisation’s investigation reportedly indicated that some of the accused persons did not know one another before their arrests.

After obtaining Certified True Copies of the relevant court records, CJMR forwarded its findings to the Ministry of Justice.

However, the case had already proceeded to prosecution.

After approximately nine years of trial, the wife and several other defendants were discharged, while her husband and another defendant were sentenced to death.

The outcome underscores the importance of establishing the individual criminal responsibility of each defendant rather than assuming that everyone arrested in connection with an offence shares the same culpability.

Another case involved Tobiloba Ipense, who was sentenced to death over allegations of ritual killing in Ogun State.

CJMR questioned aspects of the evidence, particularly the testimony of two witnesses, including a policewoman and another witness whose evidence reportedly raised concerns about hearsay.

Although the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal, the organisation maintains that the case deserves further scrutiny.

Olujobi insists that suspicion, however strong, cannot replace credible and admissible evidence capable of establishing guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

THE BOARD OF MERCY: A LAST HOPE?

For prisoners who have exhausted their ordinary rights of appeal, the constitutional prerogative of mercy provides another avenue for relief.

The power allows the appropriate authorities to consider pardon, commutation of sentence, remission or other forms of lawful intervention.

Its exercise does not necessarily imply that a conviction was wrongful. Rather, it provides an opportunity to consider exceptional circumstances that may justify humanitarian intervention.

However, the experiences of Enaya and Rashidat have raised questions about the effectiveness and timeliness of this mechanism.

How long does it take for petitions to be considered? Are prisoners informed of the outcome? What happens when an inmate dies while a petition remains pending?

Olujobi believes that mercy should not become another bureaucratic process in which prisoners spend years awaiting decisions that may never come.

He has called on the Edo and Ekiti State Governments to clarify the circumstances surrounding the cases of the two women and the handling of petitions reportedly submitted on their behalf.

He has also appealed for information on the present legal status of Abdulrasheed Mutairu and the other surviving defendants in the Ekiti murder case.

JUSTICE MUST NOT BECOME ANOTHER FORM OF PUNISHMENT

The Nigerian Correctional Service, the judiciary, prosecutors, investigators and state governments all have important responsibilities in ensuring an efficient and credible criminal justice system.

Courts must be adequately equipped to reduce delays, investigations must be thorough, and prosecutors must carefully evaluate the evidence before initiating criminal proceedings.

Access to legal representation must also be improved, while bail conditions should not effectively punish indigence.

Above all, awaiting-trial inmates must not be forgotten.

Their cases require regular monitoring, timely hearings and periodic reviews of continued detention, particularly where proceedings have been unduly prolonged.

Effective mechanisms are also needed to identify inmates who have spent excessive periods in custody without trial and ensure that their cases receive urgent judicial attention.

This is not an argument for allowing offenders to escape justice. Victims of crime and their families deserve justice, and those found guilty on the basis of credible evidence must face the consequences prescribed by law.

However, justice for victims cannot be achieved by punishing innocent people.

The criminal justice system must protect society from crime without sacrificing the fundamental rights of those accused of committing it.

WHEN THE PRISONER NEVER RETURNS HOME

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the stories of Enaya and Rashidat is that both women died before the interventions reportedly sought on their behalf could produce the desired outcome.

Their deaths raise fundamental questions about the meaning of justice in a society governed by the rule of law.

What is the value of a legal system that cannot guarantee an accused person a timely trial? What purpose does a petition for mercy serve if its consideration comes after the prisoner has died?

For thousands of inmates awaiting trial or the conclusion of appeals, time is not an abstract legal concept. It is life itself.

Every unnecessary adjournment consumes another day. Every prolonged detention takes another piece of a person’s existence, while every unanswered petition deepens the uncertainty of those whose freedom depends on an official decision.

Enaya reportedly spent approximately 30 years behind bars before her death, while Rashidat died awaiting the final determination of her appeal.

Their experiences remind us that justice delayed is not merely justice denied. In some cases, it becomes a life sentence imposed without a final judicial resolution.

And when death arrives before justice, no appeal can restore the years that have been lost.

Pastor Hezekiah Deboboye Olujobi (CRJ) is the Founder/Executive Director, Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR)

www.cjmr.com.ng