AMANEGBU IKECHUKWU
and UGOCHUKWU PEACE were arrested at Ijora, Lagos in the year 2019. On the day
of their arrest, IKECHUKWU went to eat and relax at a restaurant close to his
house, at the restaurant, he met UGOCHUKWU PEACE, they both ate and watched
football together.
While they were at
it, another person came into the restaurant and joined them in watching and
discussing football. After a while, police entered the premises and instructed
them to lie down, the police told them if they try to run, they will shoot them.
They could not believe that was happening to them until they were handcuffed and
taken to the police station.
At the station, the
police identified the third guy who joined them at the restaurant as the
complainant. The police alleged that they both defrauded the third guy of his
money. The allegation was strange to them both, and the police would not
release them on bail until they paid N20,000.
They both could not afford the said amount hence they spent 3 days at the
police station before they were subsequently charged to court for stealing.
The court remanded
them at the Ikoyi correctional center and granted them bail. They could not
perfect their bail condition and had no family to help them out. They had no
lawyer as they could not afford one. They met Headfort Foundation’s lawyer at
the Ebute Metta mobile office of the “Lawyers Without Border” project,
narrated their ordeal to the lawyer who took their brief and represented them
in court.
The lawyer haven
studied their case and realized they have already spent 2years in prison
without trial applied to the court to strike out the case for want of diligent
prosecution. The court granted our lawyer’s application after looking at its
record that since arraignment, no witness or complainant has been to court in
respect of the case. They were both released on 13th July 2021.