Human rights activist and #RevolutionNow convener Omoyele Sowore has argued that former First Lady Patience Jonathan should be imprisoned instead of her 15 domestic workers, who have been detained since 2019 over alleged missing jewellery valued at N750 million.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that in a blatant violation of Nigeria’s constitutional provisions on the presumption of innocence, the former First Lady has kept 15 of her domestic staff locked up in Bayelsa State’s Okaka Correctional Centre since 2019 over an unproven case of robbery.
Reacting to the matter, Sowore, a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) questioned where the former First Lady got the funds to buy jewelry valued at N750million.
Sowore in a post on his verified X social media account said, “Former Nigerian first lady Patience Jonathan has detained 15 domestic staff members for over six years while awaiting trial for allegedly stealing N750m worth of jewelry from her.
“Where did she get the funds to purchase jewelry valued at N750 million?”
Sowore said that Nigeria is the only country where alleged public treasury looters have the audacity to arrest others accused of stealing a portion of the funds they looted from the public treasury.
He said, “Nigeria appears to be the only country where alleged public treasury looters have the audacity to arrest others accused of stealing a portion of the funds they themselves looted from the public treasury.”
Vowing to get justice for the detained 15 domestic staff of the former First Lady, Sowore said, “We must do everything to get them released from unjustified prosecution. Patience Jonathan should be the one in prison.”
According to SaharaReporters, it had been gathered that these workers have been rotting behind bars without a court conviction, as their trial has been repeatedly stalled on the orders of the influential former First Lady.
Sources familiar with the case had raised the alarm, calling for urgent intervention to ensure justice for the detained workers.
Also, a relative of one of the detained domestic workers, speaking to SaharaReporters, said that in 2019, there was a case of breaking and entering in one of her apartments in Otuoke, and she decided to arrest all her workers—even though they were not working in that apartment at the time.
The prolonged detention of the workers is a breach of Nigeria’s constitutional guarantee of the presumption of innocence.
Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria explicitly states that every person accused of a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Furthermore, Section 35 guarantees the right to personal liberty and stipulates that no person shall be detained beyond a reasonable period without trial.
SaharaReporters had learnt that the detained staff’s case has been deliberately stalled in court, allegedly under the influence of Patience Jonathan.
Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, served as the First Lady of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015 and as the Second Lady of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010.
