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As part of its commitment to service to humanity, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos, under the leadership of the Acting President, Chief Linus Igbudu, yesterday, facilitated the release of 10 detainees from the Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre in Lagos.
Chief Igbudu described the event as a service to humanity, the first of its kind in the history of the socio-cultural organisation in Lagos.
The initiative followed a series of engagements and interfaces between Ohanaeze Ndigbo and officials of the correctional facility.
Explaining the rationale behind the initiative, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos, Chief Robert Obasi, said the gesture was in line with one of the core principles of the organisation, “Onye aghala nwanne ya,” meaning, one should abandon his brother or sister in distress.
He said Ohanaeze Lagos engaged legal experts to facilitate the release of the detainees by helping to perfect their bail conditions.
Also speaking, the Public Relations Officer of the association, Chief Mrs Violet Obiora, said the humanitarian intervention resulted in the release of 10 detainees, seven of whom are Igbo, a Togolese, and two others from Akwa Ibom and Borno states, respectively.
“We not only facilitated their release, we gave them food, clothes, shoes, and money to enable them to go to their various destinations,” she said.
Personal Assistant to the President General, Ohanaeze Worldwide, Senator John Azuta Mbata, and Coordinator, Ohanaeze Southwest, Chief Everest Ozonweke, urged the freed detainees to turn a new leaf and regard their freedom as a second chance in life. He warned them to steer away from crime and any action that could lead to their return to prison.
While thanking God for the successful engagement, an Ohanaeze chieftain, Prince Ubochi, described the initiative as a strategic effort to decongest the correctional facility and demonstrate love and compassion to detainees, many of whom, he said, were victims of unforeseen circumstances.
The released detainees, who expressed joy and gratitude, thanked Ohanaeze Ndigbo for the gesture and promised to maintain good character, henceforth.
Of particular note was Isaac, a native of Borno State and staff member of Flour Mills, who was arrested by men of the Lagos State Task Force and, subsequently, remanded at the correctional centre.
Recounting his experience, Isaac told newsmen that he was arrested despite presenting his company identity card and National Identification Number (NIN), while his mobile phone was also seized.
He expressed gratitude to Ohanaeze Ndigbo for facilitating his freedom, stressing that the organisation extended its humanitarian gesture to him and other non-Igbo beneficiaries.
“They are Igbo, yet they extended their goodwill to me and other non-Igbo people who benefited from this exercise. May God continue to bless them,” he prayed.
