For inmates of Nigeria
Prisons, Onistha, Anambra State, the true meaning of Easter was fully made
manifest when the Governor Willie Obiano and his beautiful wife Ebele paid them
a surprise visit to celebrate Easter with them on Easter Sunday.
The Governor who arrived
at the facility in the early hours of the morning also participated in a
Special Easter Mass at the Colby Chaplaincy; a Catholic Church located inside
the prison presided over by the Arch-Bishop of Onitsha Diocese, Most Reverend
Valerian Okeke and fully attended by the inmates of the prison.
Speaking to newsmen
immediately after the Mass, Chief Obiano explained that his mission was to
spread Christ’s eternal love to members of the society who seem to have escaped
the society’s memory.
“These are people that
society seems to have forgotten. I brought them a message of love today - the
message of Easter; God’s undying love for mankind. I came to remind them that
we love them; that we have not forgotten them. That is the message of Easter,”
Chief Obiano explained.
The governor however
enjoined the inmates to use the period of their
incarceration to reflect on their lives and strive for a complete reformation
that would put them in good standing before God and their neighbours.
To set the inmates up on
the path of reform and eventual re-integration into the society upon their
release, Chief Obiano declared that his administration would set up a
vocational center in the prison to equip them with life supporting skills. He
also announced that a power generator would be delivered to the authorities of
the prison before the end of the week to fulfil the promise made by his
predecessor to the prisoners.
The governor who used the
opportunity to commission a new dormitory for the inmates also expressed
discontent with the congestion of the prison and assured that his
administration would explore all possibilities of decongesting it to make it more
habitable to prisoners. The Onitsha prison presently hosts 870 inmates out of
which only eighty five have been convicted while the rest are awaiting trial.
Thirty six of these inmates are females.
Governor Obiano commended
the authorities of the prison for ensuring a very clean environment and
managing their scarce resources efficiently.
Earlier in his Easter
Sermon, the Catholic Arch-bishop of Onitsha, Most Reverend Valerian Okeke had
urged Christians to emulate the standards set by Jesus Christ for his
followers, pointing out that the world would be a better place if all
Christians did the will of Christ.
He assured Anambrarians
that Governor Obiano had taken the first few critical steps that would help the
state reclaim its position as a frontline state in the country and called for
more support and prayers for his administration.
In his own remarks, the
Deputy Controller in charge of Onitsha prison, Mr. AzukaNdupu extolled the
administrative strides of governor Obiano so far and commended his wife, Chief
Mrs. EbeleObiano for her pronounced love and motherly care for the family.
Mr. Ndupu also thanked the
Arch-bishop, Most Reverend Okeke and the entire Diocese for promoting the
welfare of the inmates and identified congestion and lack of learning facilities
as some of the major challenges confronting the authorities of the prison.
Tags
Society