Life In Prison For The VIPs. Agodi Prison Ibadan Detention brought out all sorts of quirks in behaviour. The one time stormy petrel of Ibadan politics, Busari Adelakun, for instance, appeared to lead a double religious life. He held on to the bible, constantly quoting from it although he was known to be a Muslim. His fellow detainees were confused: which is he, a Christian or a Muslim ? Adewale Thompson former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Iges Cabinet, ate once a day. He refused to share jokes with his colleagues. He was also allergic to smell and kept disinfectant handy. He promptly disinfected the toilet each time it was used. Ajasin also kept himself to himself. Ambrose Alli was very athletic. He jogged twice a day. Attach the pied piper of Agodi His zest for life and jokes drew people constantly to him and Ige kept the fires of hope burning bright with such slogans: We shall go home alive. If Agodi ended political careers, it also buried political rivalry. Thus, men who were once ready to do the unthinkable to destroy political rivals, became friends, sharing jokes and food. Habits die hard. To fight the boredom of the graveyard of the living, the detainees resorted to what they know best: forming a political party...and running a government. Agodi Prison Party was formed in Agodi Prison, Ibadan. A former legislator from Ibadan Nathanial Oloyed, was elected chairman. Michael Ogunwole became Secretary General. Rufai Oyebanji of Unity Party Nigeria (UPN) was known to be Commissioner for Health and Mosquito Affairs mainly because of his restlessness at night. He was fully occupied by this post Background When Buhari had taken over as head of state there had been widespread allegations of corruption against many members of Shagari’s government. For this reason, military tribunals were set up to try ministers in Shagari’s administration that had been accused of embezzling public funds. These tribunals were chaired by military officers and had the power to impose massive prison sentences. The only right of appeal from the tribunals was to the SMC which was also exclusively comprised of military officers (and the Inspector-General of police). The military were effectively acting as prosecutor, judge and jury. Unsurprisingly the Nigerian Bar Association barred its member lawyers from participating in the tribunals. Undeterred, Buhari and Idiagbon pressed on with the tribunals and several prominent politicians were convicted of various corruption charges and given massive prison sentences ranging from twenty to over two hundred years. Given that most of the convicted were already over fifty years old, it was obvious that those would die in prison if they served the rest of their sentences. Among those convicted were prominent politicians such as Anthony Enahoro and Jim Nwobodo. The tribunals effectively put Nigeria’s political elite in jail. ( Dawodu) Photo credit : NewsWatch 1985
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:10:58 +0000
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