One of the four victims of false imprisonment by an Anglican cleric and owner of Enedo General Services, Victory Nnadi, on Thursday, revealed how he was brutalised for resisting sodomy by male inmates a day after his arrival on 29 November 2024 at the Owerri Correctional Centre.
The victims were legal tenants of the Imo NUJ and residing in one of the flats in the secretariat complex.
Recall that the Imo State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, was in court until last month to stop the plot to sell their secretariat. While the matter, with suit number HOW/542/2021, was pending in court, the Union also secured a restraining order preventing Enedo General Services, purportedly owned by a certain Anglican priest, Nlemchukwu, from taking possession of the property.
Speaking at a press conference in Owerri, Imo State, alongside the three other victims of false imprisonment (Chima Ogechi, Oguguom Chiendu, Nduka Samuel), which lasted between 28 November and 10 December, Nnadi disclosed that about 15 male inmates had attempted to sodomise him upon his arrival, and he fought them off.
He said his refusal led the inmates to beat him and inflict injuries.
While showing journalists the scars he sustained from the attack, Nnadi said that many evil things happen at the Owerri Correctional facility.
He called on the state and federal governments to launch a commission of inquiry into the happenings there, with a view to solving the problems.
Nnadi said, “I was nearly raped at the Owerri Correctional Centre a day after our arrival. In the male cell, they asked me to go to the toilet and undress, but I refused. They immediately started forcing me, and I refused.
“They then started beating me and inflicted these injuries all over my body. These are my fellow men wanting to have carnal knowledge of me. They called it a normal thing there, but I refused.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for Owerri Correctional Centre, Goodluck Uboegbulam, said he was not aware such acts occur at the facility.
He blamed the victim for his inability to report the crime to the prison authorities, adding that the Correctional Centre has zero tolerance for such acts.
Meanwhile, the victims are demanding the arrest of Rev Godson Nlemchukwu and the Chief Bailiff of the Magistrate Court, Onyekachi Uba, for deceiving the court, leading to their false imprisonment and the confiscation of their properties.
“On the issue of our property, we give the Chief Bailiff seven days to return all our properties taken from the NUJ Secretariat, or else we shall seek redress through every legally permissible means.
Finally, we also urge the Attorney General of Imo State, COC Akaolise, to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to our imprisonment and punish those involved to serve as a deterrent to others.”