Though a Very Important Personality
(VIP), Farouk Lawan was accompanied with a remand warrant ordering his
detention in Kuje prison as an Awaiting Trial Man (ATM) with clear
instruction that he should be produced before Justice Madashiru Oniyangi
of Abuja High Court on February 8.
Lawan and the secretary of his
committee, Boniface Emenalo, were charged for allegedly demanding and
collecting bribe of $620,000 amounting to N97.4 million from a business
mogul, Chief Femi Otedola, during the committee’s probe sittings.
Shortly after Lawan and Emenalo alighted
from the vehicle that took them to the prison yard, a prison officer
standing guard at the main entrance collected the warrant from a plain
cloth security man who escorted the accused persons to the prison.
After reading through the warrant, he
turned and knocked at the iron gate of the prison. Someone from inside
peeped from a small opening and the guard outside asked him to open the
gate. The officer on the other side opened the gate.
Farouk, who looked very sad was forcing a
smile on his face and waved twice at the small crowd of prison
officials who were standing outside and gazing at him. As he slowly
walked into the prison, the guard and other non-armed security personnel
on the entourage filed in behind him.
Though this reporter could not follow
him into the premises to witness what transpired at the reception block,
housing the welfare and office of the officer-in-charge of the prison
yard where all the admission procedures of inmates were done, Sunday
Trust gathered that Lawan was there for about 46 minutes before he was
escorted by two warders into the yard.
A prison official who played a vital
role in processing the admission of Farouk Lawal into the prison told
this reporter that the process of Farouk and Boniface’s admission were
carried out in the office of the officer-In-charge of the prison.
“Our O/C tried to calm them down,
explaining to them that several prominent Nigerians had been remanded in
that prison and were released. He was very optimistic that they would
also regain their freedom ultimately.”
“He pleaded with them to relax their
minds and cooperate with the prison officials, assuring them that they
would not regret their stay with us. They were not given any prison
uniforms to wear. The Awaiting Trial Men (ATM) also have their uniforms
differents from convicts. But they were not given uniforms,” the source
said.
The source added, however, that Lawan’s
flowing gown, cap, wristwatch, shoes and other personal belongings, like
phones and money, were all collected from him and deposited with the
welfare unit of the prison.
When the process of his admission was
completed, Lawan was seen escorted from the reception/administrative
block into the main prison yard. This reporter was watching when at a
point, he and his two escorts stopped at the end of the veranda and a
gate by their left was opened, leading them to the ATM cells.
Sunday Trust learnt that Lawan was not
ushered into the main ATM cell. “He is being kept at the Condemned
Criminal Cell (CCC), which is housing both their various jail terms. The
CCC is targeted as the VIP section of the prison where we keep
important personalities and people we consider to be of good character,”
our reporter gathered.
While the main cells contain inmates in
their hundreds, the CCC contains only two persons at a time. In addition
to that gesture, Lawan and a few other inmates at the CCC have their
cells open 24 hours a day.
“Even when we leave their cells open,
they cannot go out; they can only come out of the cell to the corridors
that are fenced round with iron rods.
“Not every ATM in the prison has a
mattress, but we were able to get mattresses for the two of them. The
prison authorities provide three square meals for every inmate in this
prison. But, I saw people bring food for him from outside. Eating the
prison food is optional. He also made provision for bucket, cup and soap
for himself,” a source said.
When this reporter returned to the
prison yesterday and had access to the yard, Farouk was seen at one of
the CCC cells at a ‘V’ shaped block leading to the main ATM cell before
the convicts’ cell.
Efforts to say hello to him were
frustrated by the armless prison warders guarding the cell who said
Lawan was sleeping in the noisy environment and should, therefore, be
allowed to relax.
Though from outside the corridors the
reporter could see through Lawan’s room and the water system toilet in
it, it was not, however, clear if he was alone in the cell room or
sharing it with another inmate.
“Every cell at the CCC has a toilet and
as you can see, nobody can use curtains or anything to cover his window
or door. They are all made of iron rods so that we can see from here
everything happening in the cell. But the inmates cannot use the toilets
in their cells as there is not enough water to always flush. They come
out of the cells to use the toilets at the corridor,” the cell guard
said.
Another guard outside the prison yard
told this reporter that he saw Farouk Lawal join other Muslim convicts
to say their afternoon prayer in the mosque built behind his cell room,
adding, the laws are relaxed for him. That is what they do to most
responsible inmates that we know will not make any attempts to escape.’
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