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After more than two decades in the arm of death, a 64 -year -old Nigerian technician, Kolawole Oladeji, regained his freedom in a dramatic turning point of events, bringing closure to one of the most controversial criminal convictions of Nigeria.
Oladeji, who was sentenced and sentenced to death in 2003 for the alleged theft of a generator, left Kirikiri’s maximum security prison in Lagos on Tuesday, together with his co-accused Ogbona Igbojionu.
The version of the duo followed persistent public defense, in particular from the popular personality of Tiktok, Olumide Ogunsanwo, also known as Seaking, who highlighted their case and mobilized the public sympathy that in the end led to the government’s intervention.
Oladeji, a generator repair technician, was arrested on October 30, 1999, after a generator – was stolen elsewhere – was brought to his laboratory for repairs.
Despite his consistent affirmations of innocence, he was accused of theft and armed robbery and eventually sentenced to death by hanging on January 14, 2003.
Speaking in a previous audio message obtained by journalists, Oladeji has narrated his ordeal: “I am a repairer of generators.
Someone brought a generator for repair. After setting it, another person collected it. I didn’t steal anyone. I was just doing my job. “
He complained that the individual who said was the real culprit – Segun Ajibade – was released in 2016 by the then governor of the State of Ogun, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, presumably due to political connections and influence.
“Since then, I have been left behind. My mother died. She too died. I was here alone,” she said with a voice full of pain.
Oladeji and his co-convacts-jaws, Sunday Oloyede and Ajibade-Son were all sentenced in the same case.
However, the release of Ajibade, presumably under executive clemency, left the others languished in prison.
To seek compensation through the legal system, Oladeji’s efforts met a brick wall. In March 2018, his appeal at the Ibadan Court of Appeal was fired after his lawyer presented a retirement notice.
Later he wrote to the governor of the state of Ogun, Dapo inhabitaun, in 2020, asking Clemenza and told his ordeal.
“I am pleading to forgive total forgiveness and freedom so that I can bring together with my family. I promise to never disappoint this state and Nigeria as a whole,” he wrote in the letter.
Human rights groups described the case of Oladeji as a harmful reflection of the Nigeria judicial system, in which poor citizens often carry the weight of institutional failures, prolonged evidence and selective justice.
Although the circumstances surrounding its possible liberation remain unclear, many believe that the sustenance of the public and the viral campaigns of social media have been fundamental in forcing the system to revisit the case.
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