Shola Akinyele
After spending 26 harrowing years on death row at Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, Ogbonna Igbojionu, a native of Abia State, has finally regained his freedom — all because of a stolen generator he unknowingly bought at the age of 22.
Ogbonna’s story, now viral across Nigerian social media, is drawing national outrage and renewed calls for criminal justice reform. Arrested in 1999 after purchasing a generator from a man named Segun Ajibade, Ogbonna was later accused of buying stolen property. The police returned two weeks later, accompanied by Ajibade himself, and arrested both men.
What followed was a nightmare. Ogbonna claims he was beaten and coerced into signing a written statement he could not read. By 2003, he was sentenced to death by hanging, despite never knowing the generator was stolen. His co-accused, Kolawole Oladeji, a technician who repaired the generator, also received the same sentence.
While Ogbonna and Kolawole languished on death row, Segun Ajibade, the man who sold the stolen generator, walked free in 2016 after receiving a state pardon from the then Governor of Ogun State.
In 2025, Ogbonna’s story resurfaced on TikTok after popular content creator Olumide Ogunsanwo (aka Sea King) shared his plight. The video caught the attention of Simon Oshi, an advocate from Enugu, who took the matter up and verified Ogbonna’s identity and Abia roots.
Oshi’s discovery reached the ears of Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, who wasted no time. He dispatched the Attorney General to Lagos to investigate, collaborated with Lagos and Ogun state authorities, and successfully facilitated the release of Ogbonna, Kolawole, and another wrongfully convicted inmate.
On July 6, 2025, Ogbonna stepped out of prison for the first time in 26 years and was flown to Umuahia. There, in an emotional reunion at the Abia State Government House, he embraced his mother — a tearful, heart-wrenching moment that has now gone viral on X (Twitter), TikTok, and Instagram.
WhatsApp us
Comments