One of the domestic workers imprisoned since 2019 at the behest of former First Lady Patience Jonathan has narrated how she personally supervised and participated in their torture during detention.
The revelation is contained in a handwritten note made by one of the detainees inside Bayelsa State’s Okaka Correctional Centre, which was obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday.
The note details brutal acts of violence allegedly orchestrated by the former First Lady herself.
“Severe torture, which included hanging, beating with whips, sticks, machetes… Patience Jonathan repeatedly insisted angrily that the police were not doing enough torture to her satisfaction, just as she instructed them to. This prompted her to make the police take us to her husband’s house at Nikton Road, Kpansia, Yenagoa, some midnights where she personally supervised our torture,” the note reads.
The victim further alleged that on one of those nights, the former First Lady actively took part in the abuse, using her high-heeled shoes to brutalise them repeatedly.
“Meanwhile, she also delegated ASP Collins Otutu, the chief security officer of her husband, to supervise the police at their office to ensure they tortured us aggressively.
“He always came over very drunk also, bringing along extra bottles of alcohol for OC Chris and his boys to drink before they proceeded with torturing us at midnight,” the note further reads.
This revelation adds a new layer of horror to the already controversial case, which has seen 15 domestic workers languishing in prison for nearly six years without a conviction.
SaharaReporters previously reported how these domestic aides have been rotting in Okaka Correctional Centre since 2019 over an unproven allegation of robbery involving missing jewellery belonging to Mrs Jonathan.
Despite the constitutional presumption of innocence, these workers have been denied their freedom as their trial has been repeatedly stalled on the orders of the influential former First Lady.
Sources familiar with the case earlier raised the alarm, calling for urgent intervention.
“Since 2019, former First Lady Patience Jonathan has locked up about 16 of her domestic staff in Okaka Prison for allegedly stealing her jewellery, without first allowing a competent court of law to try them and sentence them,” one of the sources said.
“Some years ago, TECH4JUSTICE was able to provide legal services for them, which they have been doing ever since. But since the current Chief Judge came on board, she has been deliberately dragging the case on Patience Jonathan’s instructions. She is a stooge of the former First Lady,” one of the sources said.
Also, a relative of one of the detained domestic workers, speaking to SaharaReporters, stated, “They are at Okaka Prison in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. They are 15 in number and have been in prison since 2019. They were domestic workers for the former First Lady, Patience Jonathan.
“In 2019, there was a case of breaking and entering in one of her apartments in Otuoke, and she decided to arrest all her workers—even though they were not working in that apartment at the time.”
“Since then, there has been no evidence to prove the case in court, and the case is not proceeding. They keep saying they are waiting for witnesses to come forward until today,” the source said.
The names of the detained workers are Williams Alami, Vincent Olabiyi, Ebuka Cosmos, John Dashe, Tamunokuro Abaku, Sahabi Lima, Emmanuel Aginwa, Erema Deborah, Precious Kingsley, Tamunosiki Achese, Salomi Wareboka, Sunday Reginald, Boma Oba, Vivian Golden and Emeka Benson.
© SaharaReporters