China's case update

Update on Chima,'s case,

On the 6th day of July, 2016. Our Student Clinicians left for the scheduled visit to the Nigerian Prisons Umuahia with Chima's relatives, unfortunately, only one of them agreed to turn up: one of his step brothers, so we went in, upon sighting his step brother, Chima was all smiles, but the brother failed to recognise the little boy at first. Until we told him he was Chima.
This was quite shocking but we later came to understand that no one enters Nigerian Prisons and comes out anything close to how he went there. This was the story of the little boy.
Amidst several intercession by the Prison Warders and other concerned prisoners who pleaded with Chima's step brother to invest in the little boy's industry rather than abandon him, one of the prisoners said  "chairman, make i tell u something, for here, na me dey take care of Chima, Chima na d only confirm barber wey we get for here, em dey make shoe, work electronics, d boy strong well well, the only reason why the boy still dey here na say me never comot, if i comot frm ds place i dey come cari ds boy go" (sic).
Although this was exactly not how we want Chima's story to end, going home with another prisoner, but it helped put home our point to the brother on why he needs to see the change and potential in the young lad, and perfect his bail bond rather than abandon him and term him a government property.
He finally agreed to act as surety, on the condition that Chima stays somewhere else  for 2 to 3 months of his release from detention so they can monitor his change sequence and that he can equally try to convince other family members on allowing the little boy back home.

We promised to come up with something and assured him of our interest in Chima's wellbeing. He asked when next we would visit the prison again, we promised to get back to him.

We are still working on the little boys profile, we see a lot of possibilities for this young lad, going forward, and we, at Absulawclinic, wish to be part of his process.

It's our duty to the Community.

AbsuLawClinic

Update on China's case.

On the 29th of June 2016, the AbsuLawClinic team went to Umuekwule in Afugiri Umuahia, to visit the relative of one of our pre trial detainee clients, a 15 years old boy, who has been remanded in Umuahia Prisons, for almost 2years, he has since been granted bail during the jail delivery exercise that took place on the 4th of May 2016.
The reason for our visit was to convince one of his relatives to be his surety.

Our Client, Chima, a 15years old orphan, with no immediate siblings except a step mum, step grandmother, and step brothers. Who see Chima as  an "Abandoned government property".
They insist that Chima is a deviant and should remain in prison custody, they are not willing to sign anything on his behalf, infact he is an abandoned property (sic).
In Chima, however, we see a juvenile delinquent with great potentials and an amazing wealth of talent. The Prison warders spoke so fondly of the little boy, they told us he could do a lot of amazing things including the ability to repair phones, make slippers, and a host of other skills,  that we grew passionate and very interested about his course.
Unfortunately, after much persuasion on our part, the relatives blatantly refused to see what we see and insisted he should remain in prison custody even after we explained that he hasn't been charged to the High Court nor at worst convicted, he is still awaiting trial for the offence of conspiracy to commit armed robbery
We succeeded nevertheless, to convince them to agree to atleast come and see the little boy in prison for the very first time since be was remanded. This agreed visit is scheduled to be done together with our student clinicians on the 6th of July, 2016, at the Umuahia Prisons, where our client is been remanded.

We do not plan to stop here, we are presently working on a profile on Chima's case to as much as we can use his story as a test case scenario to draw attention to similar cases deserving attention in Umuahia Prisons in particular and Nigerian Prisons in general.
In this regard we plan to partner with some notable N.G.O's,  Child Protection Networks and ultimately, get the attention and intervention of our parent body Nulai Nigeria,

Our Stand- Chima has no business being in prison custody as a juvenile.

Chima is an orphan left to die and ravish in prison by the relatives due to they say he is a "deviant"

Assuming without conceding their position is correct, our client remaining in prison can never be a solution. Chima needs a real guardian to help mentor and channel his amazing skills positively.

So many great men today in our society passed through this deviant stage, they were never given up on by their parents, sadly Chima has none, we the society must stand up for him.

Its our duty to the community.

AbsuLawClinic

Clinic pays a visit to the DPP

.Re. The Visit to the DPP.
The AbsuLawclinic team on the 24th June 2016 paid an advocacy visit to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, Umuahia, Abia State.
  The essence of this visit was to formally make a report of some cases of our clients at the LawClinic with missing case files at the record department of the prisons.
The DPP Miss Onukwube, promised her coperation in the search for the missing case files. She also lamented on the lack of will by the police to forward cases to her office for proper advice, as this has made her record keeping very herrculean. She  however requested that we go back to the prisons and enquire about the name of the prosecutor handling the case, and the court that issued the remand order, as that would make her job easier.
We promised to do this in due time.

As we aim to foster the release of this persons from detention as soon as practicable. These are some of the challenges we, as supplemetary legal aid workers face in the administration of criminal justice system in Nigeria:

Attached is a copy of the stamped letter we wrote to her office  for record purposes.

Its our duty to the community.

AbsuLawClinic

Update on umuahia prisons visit

On the 17th day of May 2016, a team of Absu junior LawClinicians went to Umuahia Prisons and the High Court Complex Umuahia, this was in a bid to verify the stories of some of our clients from the record  and welfare department of the prisons, and also to get the requisite charge numbers and the  court the inmates were charged. The Junior Clinicians then went with these information to these Courts to write an application for the release of the CTC of charge sheet and record of proceedings with which we would use to process their bail application.
    At the prisons, they also requested for an interview with the inmates already admitted to bail, especially those ones their relatives do not know that they have been granted bail. The Junior Clinicians got their residential address and very soon, we would pay them a visit, In order to inform them of the good news and also convince them one on one to stand as their surety.

It's a work in progress. We are a work in progress.

Even as we teach our junior clinicians (400L students) the rudiments  of this profession, through practical learning and field work that they may continue with our legacy as we (Senior Clinicians, 500L students)move on to the next level in barely 3months time.

It's our duty to the community.

Absu LawClinic