How Lagos High Court Sentenced Me To Death For Crime I Know Nothing About — Ebonyi Indigene Cries Out For Help

Sampson Ogochukwu, an indigene of Ebonyi State in Nigeria's South-East, currently residing in Lagos, has appealed for help after being sentenced to death by hanging by the Lagos State High Court for a crime he claims he knows nothing about.

According to SaharaReporters, Ogochukwu, who narrated his ordeal in a video, said he was accused of arranging a robbery attack at a place where he was employed as a security guard (gatekeeper) in the Lekki area of Lagos.

He said he was arrested in 2017 after his friend he identified as Chuks Viviana Okonkwo from Imo State who made him relocate from Onitsha in Anambra State to Lagos, got the security guard job for him.

Narrating his ordeal, Ogochukwu said, “I was in Onitsha in Anambra State when my friend, Chuks Viviana Okonkwo from Imo State asked me to relocate to Lagos for him to look for a good job for me because I was not doing any reasonable job in Anambra state.

“I came to Lagos in 2017 and he got a job for me at Lekki Phase 1, and I started working there as a security guard.”

However, he said the same friend who got the job for him brought four others to his place of work, tied him with a rope and forced him to take them to his employer, where they robbed his employer and carted away with his employer’s car and other valuables.

He said, “As I was working there, I didn’t know that the boy had another plan till one day, he came to my place of work with four other boys.

“Before I could know what was happening, they overpowered me and tied me with a rope and forced me to take them to the people I was working for.

“I didn’t know what they wanted, so I took them to the people I was working for and they robbed the people I was working for. They stole the people’s car and other things.”

After the robbery, Ogochukwu said the armed robbers forced him into the car trunk and ran away but along the road, they brought him out, gave him N100,000 and asked him to leave Lagos and return to the South-East.

However, he decided to go back to his employer to explain what happened but he got arrested and was accused of being the masterminder of the robbery.

“When they were leaving, they put me inside the car trunk and got to the road, they brought me out and gave me N100,000 and said that if I knew what was good for me, I should run back to the East.

“They ran away and I decided to go back to my place of work to explain to them what happened. When I got there and explained what happened, but they arrested me and called the police.

“I explained to the police but they said I was lying, that all of us arranged for the robbery. I was taken to court and from court I was sent to prison since 2017,” he said in the video.

Ogochukwu further said, “I don’t have anyone. I didn’t even have a lawyer to speak for me in court. But not long after, they tracked and arrested the armed robbers.

“They (armed robbers) told the police that I was not part of them and that I knew nothing about the robbery but the police insisted that I was part of them.

“They (armed robbers) called their people who got lawyers for them and we kept going to court since 2017 and October 31, 2024, the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja discharged the other four persons and sentenced me to death by hanging.

“They said I was the one who brought the armed robbers who came to rob, meanwhile there was nothing like that.”

Pleading for urgent help and intervention by any lawyer to appeal his case, Ogochukwu said, “Please Igbos, help me. I need a lawyer to appeal my case. Please help me. I don’t know anything about this. Please, I’m making this video from inside prison.”

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters called two mobile numbers attached to the video said to be contacts through which Ogochukwu could be reached but they are all not available.