In the spirit of Easter, the President of the Nigerian Women in Clergy, Nonnie Robertson, visited Suleja prison and set some prisoners free.
The occasion coincided with the birthday of the cleric, who is also the Overseer of the New Wine Ministries World Wide. According to her, it struck her on the eve of her birthday that some captives were held in different prisons across the country, some of whom might have committed petty crimes, and were thrown into the prisons after failing to meet their bail conditions or pay the fine set for their release. She said her effort was in line with the dominant message of the season which urges men of goodwill to try to ‘set the captives free.’
President of the Nigerian Women in Clergy, Nonnie Robertson, addressing some of the inmates during her visit to Suleja prison
She lamented the incarceration of an eight-month-old – baby whom she said was in prison because her mother had committed a crime which ordinarily wouldn’t have taken her to prison. Nonnie further lamented that she was moved to tears seeing the condition this woman and her child were subjected to. She lamented the imprisonment of other children, saying they were in prison, not because of their own crime but a crime their parents committed. She asked why children should be incarcerated as well as their parents.
”There is an eight-month-old baby in this prison. I asked myself why? What was the crime? The mother is incarcerated! And you know what it means for a child to grow up in prison environment where there is no good food, no clothing, no baby food, and no good medical care. Is a child who grows up in that kind of environment not condemned for life?”, the Overseer said..
“I was really shocked when I saw the eight month-old-baby. The woman lives on dry food, that is, garri that outsiders provide for them. They don’t give them food. They depend on what people take to them. That is what they share among them and they drink garri even in the morning with little or no sugar. You can just imagine! There are many children living in this condition in Nigerian prisons but people would not know. There are issues. I weep for this country”.
Speaking on why she decided to visit the prison when top on the nation’s agenda are gender issues, she said, “I always like to do things differently. I heard about what I could describe as ‘forgotten’ victims in Nigerian prisons; though I didn’t take it seriously because I was not led by the spirit; I prayed over it and few, days to my birthday, God asked me to visit prisons. The first prison that came to my mind was Kuje prison, because, ignorantly, I thought that was the only prison around. But we later went to Suleja prison and we met inmates whose cases were poverty-driven crimes. Some are there serving jail terms with the options of N5, 000 to N15, 000 fines but they can’t afford it and nobody to help. This is why I call them the ‘forgotten victims’. We have people that have looted billions of naira in this country, yet they have their freedom and sailing around the world. This is sad”.
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