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<\/figure>\n\u200e \u200e\u201dAnd I asked him, Where are you from? He said he\u2019s from Abia State. I told him, I know your Governor, he\u2019s a very good man and an amazing leader. I will pass this message across to him and get back to you. \u200eReceiving the condemned but rescued individuals \u2013\u00a0 Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, Olawale Adediji, and the other one who could not join them on their journey to Abia State, Governor Alex Otti thanked Hon. Simon Oshi for his doggedness and consistency and encouraged him to continue to do what he is doing for the society. The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu and his Power and Public Utilities counterpart, Engr. Ikechukwu Monday were present at the meeting.
\u200eThe intervention of Abia State Governor, His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, has helped Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, an Abia citizen, and two other citizens of Nigeria from other regions to regain their freedom after 26 years in prison after they were sentenced to death.<\/strong>
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\u200ePresenting the released individuals on Saturday 6th June, to Governor Otti, Hon. 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 on the social Media space as \u201cSea King\u201d and had to contact Governor Otti for his intervention.
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\u200e\u201dNow, when the popular social media influencer brought it up on social media, I took it upon myself and said, let me actually go and verify if what they are saying is true.
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\u200e\u201dSo, I went with a team of lawyers and also our popular influencer here too, to visit the two young men in Kiirikiri prison. On getting there, I started interacting with them.<\/p>\n
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\u200e\u201dThey were sentenced to death in 2003 over a case of a stolen generator that he bought. So, I told His Excellency. Immediately, the next day, he sent the Attorney General of Abia State to Kirikiri to go and verify if all I told him was actually true.
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\u200e\u201dThe Attorney General went there, got back to him, and he said, No, this can\u2019t be. It can\u2019t happen to a son of the soil in Abia State when he is the Governor. So, His Excellency, being a good leader and an amazing father to us all, hurriedly wrote a letter to the Governor of the State where they were held.
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\u200e\u201dFrom there, he kept on pushing and after spending 26 years in prison, His Excellency brought them back and now they have seen freedom., Hon. Oshi narrated.
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\u200eHon. Oshi thanked Governor Alex Otti for being a good and passionate leader and said that Abians would pay him back by voting him for a second term in office.<\/p>\n
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\u200eHe equally appreciated the social media influencer for a job well done, adding that, God might have allowed him (the social media influencer) to be remanded in the correctional facility for two weeks, just to help Mr. Igbojionu and Co to regain their freedom from death sentence and life imprisonment.\u00a0
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\u200e\u201dA typical Nigerian would say it doesn\u2019t concern me but because you\u2019re a very good person, you took it upon yourself.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t bring it to my attention, I wouldn\u2019t have known.
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\u200e\u201dSo, by the time we enquired, the twist was that they were in Lagos but it was an Ogun State matter. I want to use this opportunity to also thank my brother, Governor, colleague, and friend, Dapo Abiodun, for also following through and being consistent.
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\u200e\u201dWhen I brought it to his attention and wrote the letter, he acknowledged it and said he was going to work on it. Just last week, I was away when he called me outside the country and said they have now been released.
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\u200e\u201dFor us, justice is everything. You can have all the money in the world but if you don\u2019t contribute to building a fair and just society, your money is useless.
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\u200e\u201dWe\u2019ll all come and go. People leave so much behind. Once you close your eyes and you don\u2019t open them, that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the end. Whatever you would have accumulated and acquired would become useless,\u201d the Governor stated.
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\u200eGovernor Otti, who assured that his government would give them the necessary support to bounce back to life, directed the Commissioner for Local Government and his Power and Public Utilities counterpart, who were present at the event, to work with the relevant Departments of government to ensure that they are reintegrated back into the society.
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\u200e\u201dIt may not be their direct role, but I\u2019m giving them the assignment to work with the relevant parts of government to ensure that they are reintegrated back into the society.
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\u200e\u201dWe will support you and get you back into the society. Having said that, I want to welcome you back to this part of the world. Thank God for preserving you up to this time, \u201d Gov. Otti added.
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\u200eWhile thanking the Governor on behalf of his fellow condemned but freed and released inmates, Mr. Ogbonnaya Igbojionu, an indigene of Ikwuano LGA, narrated his ordeal, saying 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 sold the generator to him, coming back after two weeks to his shop with the police.
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\u200eAccording 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.
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\u200eHe 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.<\/p>\n
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\u200eCtz. UKOHA NJOKU UKOHA <\/em>
\u200e\u200eChief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia State.<\/em>
\u200e05 \u2013 07 \u2013 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n