Lukman Adeyemi, a 50-year-old bricklayer from Oyo State, has finally been proven innocent and released from prison after spent 24 years in prison wrongfully. In 2000, at the age of 26, he was detained by SARS officers after accompanying a friend to the police station, where he was mistreated and compelled to make false confessions through physical and mental abuse. After nine years in pre-trial incarceration and another 15 years on death row, he was ultimately released on June 14, 2024. Lukman Adeyemi described the horrible ordeal he went through while in prison.
I was falsely charged and imprisoned for a crime I knew nothing about. I'm now looking for justice and attempting to restore my life. "In August 2000, after going home from work with a friend staying with me, Ismaila Lasisi, we were told that the police had come to look for him and that he needed to surrender himself to the station. "I quickly decided to follow him to the station, where I was arrested and imprisoned beside him. I was tortured to death over a crime I knew nothing about, right from the police station.
I quickly decided to follow him to the station, where I was arrested and imprisoned with him. I was tortured to death for a crime I had no knowledge of, right at the police station. "I had an almost with death over the murder of a woman hired by some ex-friends of Ismaila Lasisi to fetch water for them on the construction site." The woman left home in the morning and never returned.
Ismaila Lasisi before lived with them. He begged to live with me following a quarrel with these people in March. I knew these people from a long way. Our paths have never crossed in life for any reason. This is how I was charged in court with these people for an offence I had no knowledge about. In 2009, we were sentenced to death. We filed separate appeals, but neither made it to the Supreme Court. "My story of innocence to anyone who would listen fell on deaf ears, with many asking, 'If you're not one of them, why mention your name?'" 'If you genuinely are innocent, why can't the court release you?'
I felt abandoned by the truth itself. I endured 24 years in prison as if it were 24 hours, a sleepless night stretching two decades. "In June 2023, one of the Correctional Service officers, Deputy Superintendent of Correctional (DSC) AbdulKareem Awesu, introduced my case to a pastor, with whom I spoke on the phone. "On July 17, 2023, a group led by Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi from the Centre for Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation, CJMR, paid us a visit at the Ibara Correctional Service and listened to all of us, including the perpetrators who exonerated us. The organisation upheld our judgement and shed light on our innocence.
June 14, 2024, will be an evergreen and memorable day in my life. Light flashed on me, rain dropped on my head, and I saw the moon for the first time. "I had no idea I could pay for the sin of another guy. How might I commit an offence and then walk into a police station to report it? "I am grateful that the Centre for Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation intervened on my behalf, providing an expression of hope in a sea of sorrow. Her trust in my innocence sparked the torch of justice within me, propelling me towards the prospect of redemption."
Pastor Hezekiah Deboboye Olujobi, the director of the Centre for Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation (CJMR), a non-profit organisation based in Ibadan, has came forward to advocate the release of Lukman Adeyemi and Ismaila Lasisi. He provided overwhelming evidence to show their innocence.
He narrated how the release of the individuals were facilitated, saying …
With all of the analysis and data on file, we forwarded our conclusions to the office of the Attorney-General of Ogun State and the Committee for the Board of Prerogative of Mercy, who considered our appeal. "It's not about their story, it is about the fact that the record corroborated their story."
Lukman Adeyemi and Ismaila Lasisi are now receiving assistance from the Centre for Justice after being exonerated of charges.