Juliana Francis
Headfort Foundation (Prison Reform Initiative) has assisted 30 years old Philips Samuel in securing his freedom from the correctional centre.
Headfort Foundation (Prison Reform Initiative) took to its Twitter handle @HeadfortF to share how the organisation rescued Samuel from prison.
According to the foundation, Samuel, an OND Holder, came to Lagos State in July 2021 in search of greener pastures. Unfortunately, he did not get a lucrative job but was employed at a construction company site as a Security Guard at GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
Headfort Foundation (Prison Reform Initiative) stated: “He was given the license to sell marine boards for his upkeep. On the 26th of February, 2022, at about 7:30 pm while he was selling some marine boards to some people, the engineer of the construction site came with some policemen and accused him of stealing 30 bags of cement from the construction site. He was arrested on that same day and was taken to Area F, GRA, Ikeja, where he spent six days before he was taken to court. He was arraigned on the 3rd of March, 2022, and he pleaded not guilty to the charge read to him. His case was adjourned several times for trial, and no complainant or any witness came for the court proceedings. While our team at Ogba went for court cell visitation in August 2022, Philips met our lawyer and narrated his story. He made our lawyer and the Court understand that he didn’t steal and it wasn’t feasible for him to have stolen the items in question. He said, ‘I wouldn’t have been on the site when they came, I would have run away. Secondly, I cannot steal 30 bags of cement with my hands or put it on my head or take it out of the estate because the construction site was inside the estate, definitely, the people around would have seen me.’”
The foundation made the court listen to the lawyer’s application, granted it and discharged Samuel. The foundation felt Samuel had spent six months in custody unjustly.
