FORTY EITHT-year-old Samodu Dawopale, has finally regained freedom after 14 years as a robbery suspect in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Lagos.
Narrating his ordeal in a telephone chat with the Nigerian Tribune, Dawopale said that his release came through the order of an Appeal Court in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, which set aside the death sentence earlier passed on him by an Ijebu-Ode High Court 10 years ago.
He breathed air of freedom last Wednesday.
“I was arrested at Ago-Iwoye in 1999, with another boy, who who is still serving a 21-year jail term. I was sentenced to death by the High Court Three, Ijebu-Ode on April 10, 2003 and since then, I have been making frantic efforts to come out of the prison yard alive through my lawyer, Adebayo Ojo.
“My release paper was delivered to the prison authorities since May 31 last month, before I was eventually released yesternight (last Tuesday). In fact, I was pushed into the rain, as it was raining heavily, but then, freedom is sweet.
“In fact, I acted funnily before they allowed me to go. My brother, they (Prisons officers) wanted me to part with N50,000 to secure my release, but I asked them where I would get such an amount. So, I then began to throw available objects round to cause commotion, then, they opened the gate for me to go; it is an unforgettable experience,” he said.
TRIBUNE
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