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Ex-Condemned Robber Launches 2 Books in Enugu

Daily Champion
Chukwudi Achife
30 July 2007

It was plaudits galore last weekend in Enugu for a former condemned armed robber, Ben Amaechi Okafor at the public presentation of two books he wrote on the negative effects of crime and the need to prevent youths from getting into criminal activities.

Okafor who was condemned to death by firing squad spent 15 years awaiting death before he was pardoned by a former Military Governor of Enugu State presented the books entitled 'Horrors of Crime' and 'Crime is worse than fire' at the function attended by eminent lawyers and jurists as well of top officials of the Nigerian Prisons Service and non-governmental organizations.

The Comptroller of the Nigerian Prisons, Enugu where the author served his time, Alhaji Mohammed Idris described him as a testimony to the fact that the nation's penal system, despite its limitations, was still capable of producing the required changes in criminals that would make them honest and acceptable members of the society.

He explained that the prison system was principally, a reformation institution for criminals with necessary training in various vocations being offered to inmates including those who have been condemned to death adding that Okafor's achievements would serve as a source of assurance to convicts that all was not lost on account of their having been sent to jail.

Also speaking the Executive Director of the Prisoners' Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) which coordinated the event, Mrs Uju Agomoh called for an end to the stigmatization of ex-convicts who had served their time in prison saying that such attitude would not only encourage them to go back to their nefarious activities but would deny them the opportunity to develop their positive potentials for the benefit of the society.

He said Okafor's example has shown that convicted criminals when offered the right assistance and environment could turn out to be even more productive members of the society, than their untainted counterparts.

She noted that the books reflected Okafor's experiences when he became a criminal at the age of nine to the time he was pardoned at the age of 39 as a condemned criminal adding that it contained enough to "make any young person shudder and balk at even the merest thought of committing a crime".

The Chief Registrar of the Enugu High Court, Mr Emeka Onyia and the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Enugu, Dr Ahamaefule Agomoh also in their separate speeches called for more sympathy and support and for ex-convicts from other members of the society as they struggle to readjust to honest lifestyles.

In his brief speech, Okafor said he not only found Christ in prison but was inspired by him to expose to the society, especially the young ones, the horrors he observed both as an active criminal and as a convict in the books adding that he would continue writing "until the youths learn to say no to crime".

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