Two innocent men freed after 10 years on death row

Two young men, Sopuruchi Obed and Oto-Bong Sunday Edet, were on Friday released from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison after 10 years on death row for a crime they did not commit.
Obed’s and Edet’s release was made possible by the Legal Defence and Assistance Project, a non governmental organisation, which had steadily kicked against the death penalty.
Obed was sent to prison when he was just 14, while Edet was 17.
The Executive Programmes Director of LEDAP, Adaobi Egboka, said after their release: “We want the government to know that death penalty is not the solution because our criminal system is still not perfect.
“We need to show these deficiencies in the system through practical purposes like the release of Obed and Edet.”
Obed and Edet on or about September 2004, at Obele Road, off Maragbo, Lagos State in the Lagos Judicial Division were alleged to have conspired to commit a felony to wit: Armed Robbery.
Armed robbery is contrary to Section 402(2) (a) of the Criminal Code Law.
Both men were alleged to have been armed with offensive weapons like guns.
They were further alleged to have robbed one Praise Lawani of N54,000, a digital Kodak Camera valued at N60,000, a Motorola handset, two wrist watches valued at N16,000, two kitchen knives and a cutlass valued at N130,000.
Speaking with journalists on Friday, Obed and Edet said they were innocent of the charges.
Both confessed to have committed the crime when they believed they were going to be killed by policemen who were torturing them.
Obed said: “I was just a young boy, yet police shot me on the leg. I was frightened and confused. I knew they meant to kill me. I didn’t know if there was any robbery or not. I was just going to a cybercafé when I was rounded up. I was in secondary school and could read and write, but the police refused to allow me write my statement. They wrote the statement and forced me to sign it.”
In the blink of an eye, Obed found himself on death row, convicted of armed robbery.
A crime he did not commit.
The story of Edet was not too different.
Left with his younger sister and mother after his father died, Edet knew it was now left to grow up fast and take care of the two women in his life.
He jettisoned school, came to Lagos and became an apprentice to a man who sold cassettes.
After two years, the man gave him money and he started selling his own cassette at Morogbon.
Edet said everything would have turned out fine, but one day, an incident changed his life.
The incident was the news that some policemen came to look for him. He wondered why and approached an elderly man he knew to escort him to the police station.
According to him, he was in the Baale’s palace area, when policemen saw him and for no apparent reason that he could decipher, shot his leg, calling him an armed robber.
“When he I thrown into the police cell at Morogbon Police Station, I saw this guy, whom I later got to know is called Obed. I had never set eyes on him before that day.
“The police said that it was I and Obed that went to rob. They asked me if I knew Obed. I said no. They took us to the State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, Yaba. It was there that the real torture started. When I had attempted to tell my story, the police used gun to hit my mouth. That was how I got the scar you see on the edge of my lip.
“The police said he would assist me to get my freedom if only I would agree that I robbed. I didn’t want to die. I agreed. He wrote a statement and asked me to sign it. I did.”
Both men used the opportunity to speak against death penalty, stressing that there were too many people innocent people on death row.
Describing himself as the happiest man alive today, Edet, who had become a master cobbler in prison, said: “I thank LEDAP for believing in me and giving me a second chance. My next plan is to look for a shop with the assistance of my cousin and start working as a cobbler.”
Obed said he was too excited for words to describe how he feels, as he stepped away from prison. Obed, who is in the Nigeria Open University, studying Law while in prison, is already in 300 level.
He is not only academically sound, he is musically inclined and one of the finest footballers they had in prisons.
He said: “I still wish to continue with my education. I could sing and play musical instrument. I can also pursue my football career. But what I just want now is to get home to my parents. My mother is waiting for me and my father had been calling since morning. I won’t forget my friends on death row. My message to them is not to give up hope. Although LEDAP is there, but God is what we need more than anything!”