Orji Kalu Visits Kuje Prison Inmates, To Build New Cell

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Friday, visited the Nigerian Correctional Service Medial Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, Abuja, as a “compliments of the season”.

Kalu wrote on his Facebook page that, “I ate, drank and shared jokes with a few [inmates].”

He expressed joy that the solar power project he sponsored in the centre had helped the prison with 24 hours’ power supply.

He recalled how he wept during his stay in the prison as a result of the situation of inmates who were unjustly incarcerated.

Quoting him, “Since I became an adult, there have been two occasions I wept. The first was the day Igbos were deported from Lagos to Onitsha. After my reaction to the unceremonious event, I questioned the humanity in this country and the embarrassment attached.

“The second was when I was at the Nigerian Correctional Service Medial Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, Abuja. Somehow, one young man approached me and sought an audience which I granted.

“He told me a pathetic story of how he found himself in prison. He is the only child of his parents and his father was also imprisoned.

“That night, I prayed and thanked God for encountering him. I didn’t need anyone to tell me it was a setup for his family. After my intervention by engaging the services of a lawyer, himself and his father were freed.

“I was able to secure the release of not less than 100 inmates who were in detention because they couldn’t afford a lawyer or bail. My stay in Kuje actually gave me an opportunity to see the deepest and lowest ebb of the downtrodden.

“While many in detention are guilty of one crime or the other, there are several others who are languishing in detention because they could not fulfill the requirements of the law to be freed.

“They just needed little intervention and I am grateful to God for using me. However, I also noticed there are a few who do not want to leave the prison. For reasons best known to them , they feel much more comfortable spending their entire lives in prison.”

He said that he would embark on constructing a new cell at Kuje to decongest the prison by 2022.