Lamentations of Nigerians in Benin Republic prisons ...2500 Nigerians rot in Prisons

Emeka Ibemere

He was one of those Nigerians who eke out a living at Seme border. Every morning, he strolls from his house at Badagry to Seme border for his daily bread and by the close of the day, Joseph Datti, would go home with nothing less than N4,000, he realises from carrying loads across the Nigerian side of the border to Benin Republic.

One day, mother luck ran out of him; he was arrested by the Benin Republic police. Few hours later, Datti was in Cotonou’s premier jailhouse. 

That was in 2005. Since then, the 65-year- old man has been held incommunicado without trial.

Datti told a fellow Nigerian who was released recently that he has spent 15 years without trial in that French-speaking West African country. His condition has deteriorated to the level of lunacy. He could only remember his son Abdullahi. He said Abdullahi is a practising lawyer in Lagos State.

This is one of the cases of about 2,500 Nigerians languishing in various prisons in Benin Republic for minor offences ranging from wandering to illegal entry. However, some are being held for drug trafficking, child trafficking, money laundering, armed robbery, kidnapping and advance fee frauds (419) and other sundry crimes.

Jude Okoroafor, a driver, with an international organization in Lagos, was recently released by Benin Republic police authorities after sharing a cell-room with Datti. He told Daily Signpost the agonies, pains and injustice Nigerians in Benin Republic prisons go through on daily basis.

According to him, many of the detainees are awaiting trial, while others are convicts. Last year, two Nigerians, Ogbonna Ikechukwu Igwe and Kalu Dimgba Onwuka, were released after spending a year inside one of Cotonou’s foremost prisons.

According to Okoroafor, he was arrested after Seme on his way to  Cotonou, Benin Republic when the Beninoise gendarmes accosted him and seized his company vehicle. It was gathered that the vehicle was not properly registered to operate in Cotonou. He was arrested and sent straight to jail. Daily signpost gathered that he was prosecuted immediately at the State High court. He was later remanded in prison custody for five days without bail. Our source said it took a diplomatic intervention and his company’s intervention for the man to be released yet the vehicle was later released after two months.

In Lokossa, Cotonou, Parakou, Abomey and Porto Novo as well as other Beninoise towns serving as detention centres, Nigerians account for a substantial percentage of the inmates.

Okoroafor revealed activities that go on inside the Cotonou prisons. On arrival at the reception of PCC, which is located near the headquarters of Benin Republic’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Leisure, Okoroafor said he was shocked by the number of Nigerians, particularly Igbo and Yoruba men and women in prison.

Okoroafor revealed that Cotonou’s prison congestion is worst in Africa. According to him, there are about 400 people locked up in one cell and they are mostly Nigerians.

Datti who claimed to be an indigene of Ogun State has lost memory due to the hard times in prison. Okoroafor said Datti is in poor health condition and may die if nothing is done quickly to rescue him from the Cotonou prison.

Okoroafor said they sleep in batches to enable other inmates sleep and each batch sleeps for four hours and gives others time to come and sleep.  “I slept like that for five days. It was difficult to sleep because of lack of space and throughout my five days there, we slept on the bare floor,” he stated.

Okoroafor said there is no difference between the practice in Nigerian prisons and what obtains in Cotonou prisons. According to him, a new prisoner coughs out an initiation fee of 8,000CFA (N2000). One is subjected to dirty jobs inside the cell if he fails to pay his fee. “You will be asked to be carrying buckets of urine daily, sweeping and other routine duties”, He stated that he spent up to N5,000 inside the prison before he was released after a period of five days.

According to Okoroafor, Datti’s case got wedged when he could not hire the services of a lawyer -- over alleged wandering offence. And he is still in prison. Okoroafor is hoping the Nigerian authorities will wade in to free the other Nigerians wallowing in Benin Republic prisons.