Dalena Reporters l December 23, 2025
A 55-year-old man from Ebonyi State has spent 13 years in custody at the Aba Correctional Centre in Abia State without trial, after being arrested in 2012 simply because police alleged he resembled a murder suspect, his lawyer says. The man, identified as Sunday Anyim of Edoma, Izzi Local Government Area, was laid off life and liberty after officers at Ehere Market, Aba, detained him while he was selling second-hand clothes commonly known as okirika — during a business trip from his home state.
According to Barrister Onyekachi Ezedike Hillary, Anyim had no mobile phone at the time of his arrest and was said to resemble a suspect wanted for the killing of a woman on her farmland in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State. Police subsequently charged him with murder, and he has remained remanded in prison ever since, awaiting trial that never came.
For years, Anyim’s family believed he was dead, as none were aware of his detention an ordeal that highlights deep systemic issues in Nigeria’s criminal-justice system where pretrial detainees can languish in custody indefinitely. His case file was reportedly among court records destroyed during the 2020 #EndSARS protests, compounding delays and leaving prosecutors without critical documentation.
Anyim collapsed and fainted on December 19, 2025, and prison medical staff have since treated him for a deteriorating condition that has left him unable to speak or walk, lawyers say. Efforts are now underway to locate surviving family members in Ebonyi and to seek a fresh legal push to reopen proceedings or secure his release.
Human-rights advocates say the case is emblematic of broader patterns in which poor suspects, especially those without means or contacts, can spend years in detention without access to counsel, a speedy trial, or even notification of relatives a situation that raises serious concerns about due process and fundamental rights in Nigeria’s correctional system.
source Sahara Reporters.