An 89-year-old man in Imo State and his eldest son are reportedly facing execution after spending years in custody over a murder case their family says involved another relative.
The case of Pa Everestus Okereke and his son, Ugochukwu, was highlighted on Trending With Ojy Okpe on Arise News, with a prison evangelist, Christian Chuka, calling for the Imo State authorities to urgently review the matter.
According to the account presented on the programme, the case dates back to 2016, when Pa Okereke’s younger son allegedly fled after a fight that resulted in the death of another man.
The family alleges that authorities subsequently arrested Pa Okereke and Ugochukwu after the younger son could not be found.
They reportedly remained in custody and were sentenced to death by hanging in September 2022.
Why the case is raising concern
The central issue is whether the two men were prosecuted for offences they personally committed or whether they were arrested and detained because of their relationship with an absent suspect.
Reuben Abati, who discussed the case on the programme, described the alleged practice as “arrest in lieu” or “proxy arrest”, stressing that criminal liability is personal.
“A person shall not be arrested in place of a suspect,” Section 7 of Nigeria’s Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 provides.
The Nigerian Police Act 2020 also prohibits arrest in lieu under Section 36, according to legal research published by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
That does not, however, establish that Pa Okereke and his son were arrested unlawfully. That question would require examination of the police investigation, charge sheet, trial record, evidence presented in court and subsequent appeal proceedings.
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What the law says
The prohibition against arresting someone in place of a suspect is intended to prevent law-enforcement authorities from detaining relatives or associates simply because the person actually sought cannot be found.
Legal research on the provision says the practice has historically involved relatives being arrested to pressure a fleeing suspect to surrender.
The principle is also reflected in Nigerian case law. Courts have held that a person cannot be made criminally responsible simply because he or she is related to an alleged offender.
However, being related to a suspect does not by itself prove innocence either. A relative can lawfully be prosecuted if investigators have evidence linking that person personally to the alleged offence.
That distinction is important in the Okereke case because the available account makes a serious allegation about how the two men came to be arrested, but does not provide the court’s reasons for convicting them.
Appeal efforts reportedly unsuccessful
According to the account presented on Arise News, attempts to challenge the convictions through the courts have not succeeded.
The programme also reported concerns from the family that Pa Okereke’s health has deteriorated during his prolonged incarceration.
The prison evangelist, Christian Chuka, appealed directly for intervention.
“If you have access to the governor of Imo State, kindly forward me the details on how I’m going to reach him, so that this man will be removed as quick as possible from the prison, because if he dies there, Imo State will be held bound for a very long time.”
Why the case matters
The case raises questions beyond the fate of one elderly prisoner and his son.
If the family’s account is accurate, it would raise serious questions about the investigation, prosecution and subsequent judicial process.
If, on the other hand, the two men were convicted on evidence showing that they personally participated in the offence, the relevant court record would be necessary to understand the basis for their convictions and the outcome of their appeals.
That is why an independent review of the case file matters.
It would also establish whether the men were arrested as substitutes for another suspect, whether investigators had evidence connecting them to the alleged crime, and what evidence the courts relied on before imposing the death sentences.
What happens next?
The immediate call from the programme is for the Imo State Government and relevant justice authorities to examine the case.
A proper review would need to establish the identities of the original suspects, the circumstances of the arrests, the charges filed against Pa Okereke and Ugochukwu, the evidence presented at trial and the decisions reached on appeal.
The authorities could also clarify whether the men remain under a death sentence, whether any appeal or other legal process is pending, and what steps, if any, have been taken to review their circumstances.
Until those records are made available, the allegation that the father and son were sentenced for a crime committed by another person should remain clearly identified as an allegation rather than an established fact.
For an 89-year-old prisoner facing a death sentence, however, the case raises an immediate question of due process: was the man convicted because of evidence against him, or because authorities could not find somebody else?
That question can only be answered conclusively by the evidence and the court record.
Source: Arise News, Trending With Ojy Okpe; Nigerian legal materials on arrest in lieu.
