For nearly two years, Chris Chom and 61 other inmates shared a filthy cell in the Kaduna State Central Prisons.
According to the 34-year-old, the cell had only three beds, so the inmates slept in a pile on the bare floor at night and yearned for the day they would see the priceless light of freedom.
Mr Chom spoke with undercover reporters from Online News who visited the prison last December. He said what was worse for him than his prison experience was the fact that the authorities could not explain why they were keeping him.
His journey to the prison started on July 14, 2017. A chef, he had just returned from Abuja to visit his family in Kaduna. He was about to take a nap that afternoon when he heard a shrill cry from a nearby building occupied by his maternal uncle, Ayuba James.
Abel, Mr James’ 10-year-old son, had always been a bit difficult. He was born with sickle cell anaemia, a condition that earned him sympathy from many.
So when he heard Abel’s cry that afternoon, he rushed over and found the boy being flayed by his father. Mr Chom’s intervention would change his life in a manner he never anticipated.
Mr Chom found young Abel already badly beaten.
“It all happened so fast that I could not even ask what the boy had done to warrant such a treatment,” he recalled.
“Seeing the state that the boy was in, I knew he had to be rushed to the hospital. But on our way to the hospital, the child died,” Mr Chom said.
The child was confirmed dead at the Kachia General Hospital, according to Mr Chom.