26-Year-Old Photographer Freed After 10 Months In Keffi Prison For Resignation Text To APC Stalwart, Oluwole Mike

A 26-year-old graduate and photographer simply identified as ‘Nicholas’ has just been released from a Keffi prison after spending 10 months in detention following his arrest over a resignation text message he sent to his boss, Oluwole Mike, a politician with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Funke Adeoye, the founder and executive director of Hope Behind Bars, a non-profit organisation advocating for justice reform, disclosed this in an X post on Tuesday.

According to Adeoye, Nicholas, a photographer and keyboardist, was arrested after resigning as a photographer at Pesther Photostudio, owned by Oluwole Mike. Nicholas sent a text message to Mike informing him of his decision to leave the job. However, Mike reacted angrily to the message and arrested Nicholas for no just cause.

Adeoye detailed that Nicholas was initially held in police detention for two days but was later charged with “intentional insult.” Unable to afford the bail, which was initially set at ₦100,000 and later reduced to ₦50,000, Nicholas was sent to a prison in Keff, where he was locked up with 189 other inmates in a crowded cell.

“He remained there even after the said boss, a politician in the current administration and owner of a popular photography studio in FCT, wrote a letter to the court withdrawing the charge. Two weeks ago, someone hinted @hopebehindbar about Nicholas’s plight, and @thehassanian reached out to a friend who donated N50,000 anonymously,” she wrote.

The case highlighted how the Nigerian Police Force has consistently been used as a tool by influential people to oppress, intimidate and grossly violate the rights of ordinary citizens through unjust and unlawful detention.

Recall that West Africa Weekly reported that the Nigerian Police were also used by Erisco Foods Limited, owned by Eris Umeofia, to unlawfully detain and oppress Chioma Okoli over her review of the company’s product, eventually leading to a bail of 5 million.

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