In a special way to commemorate his one year anniversary of freedom from incarnation in Italy, Ex Edo State commissioner Osaze Osemwegie Ero is set to pay fine for more than 20 prison inmate in Edo State with his #justice4innocentNigerians campaign.
I want to thank you again for all your support during and after my incarceration in Italy. I am most grateful.
This month of May 29th will make it one year since my release and vindication. To commemorate my first one year of freedom from the injustice meted out to me and to keep in view the plight and fate of many Nigerians still languishing in Maximum security prisons in Italy, I have decided to extend a hand of freedom to some people in Edo state who have been incarcerated for minor offences and given the option of “paying a fine” but cannot afford the money.
I visited the Comptroller of Correctional Services in Edo State who testified that it is disheartening to know that people are incarcerated for not being able to pay fines as small as 50,000 Naira or given up to three years in prison.
To this end I have decided to raise the sum of Two Million Naira to help free a minimum of 20 Edo citizens incarcerated because they cannot afford to pay the fines imposed on them by the state.
This is with a view to giving these persons the opportunity to be reunited with their families. So many children and families are suffering, going through the agony of being separated from their loved ones because of situations like this. This is sometimes due to injustice because of their status. Having passed through the ordeal I passed through in the hands of the Italian justice system, I am now better placed to understand this situation too well. All these people have to do is promise us they will be good citizens of Edo State once they regain their freedom. We will also partner with the relevant government agencies and NGOs to ensure these persons are gainfuly employed and re-integrated back into the society.
Once again, I cannot stop thanking you for your support and prayers and how it made it possible for me to be free. But for your support, prayers and good wishes, I would have been languishing in Prison for crimes I did not commit.
Our #justice4innocentNigerians campaign, including the protest in Lagos and London Italian Embassies has enabled over 56 Nigerians to regain their freedoms in Italy and that effort is still ongoing.
Freeing Edo citizens as a way of celebrating the anniversary of our efforts towards freedom is what I want to do.
I cannot do this alone hence I am soliciting your immense support to achieve this purpose.