A suspect in the October 1, 2010 Independence Day Celebrations bombings in Abuja, Tiemkenfa Francis Osuwo, aka ‘General Gbokos,’ died in Kuje Prison.
A statement by Festus Keyamo said his death was despite previous complaints by counsel representing him and his co-accused about the maltreatment they were receiving in custody at the hands of the Nigerian Government.
In its own reaction, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (M.E.N.D) said it received the news without surprise
“For refusing to cooperate with two Nigerian government informants, Raphael Damfebo, an employee of Agip and Mr Emmanuel Allison, an employee of Daewoo, Yenagoa, in testifying falsely against Henry Okah, Osuwo was arrested and accused of complicity in the M.E.N.D. bombing of 1 October, 2010,” the movement said.
The statement said the situation began when the cells of the four accused persons were fumigated on January 8, 2012 with a strange substance which affected their health, about which the solicitors raised alarm at the time.
MEND said the accused men “have been held under the most appalling conditions and exposed to toxic fumes in their cells,” and that Mr. Osuwo died as a result of such exposure and neglect.
Osuwo had been urinating and defecating on himself in the prison and despite pleas by his solicitors requesting that he be treated properly, no one attended to him,” Mr. Keyamo said. He noted that that on February 21, the suspect collapsed in court, which stalled hearing for that day.
Mr. Keyamo said that despite the order of the court on the day in question that Mr. Osuwo be medically attended to by the prisons authorities, no medication was administered on him, concluding that it was obvious that the authorities wanted him dead.
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