Nigerian freed after 15 years awaiting trial

14 February 2011 Last updated at 08:06 GMT

Nigerian freed after 15 years awaiting trial

Effiong Elemi-Edu, 40, was released from prison in Nigeria last month after spending more than 15 years inside awaiting trial.

He was newly married and working in a plastic manufacturing firm when he was rounded up by police in Lagos in November 1995, the month after the murder of pro-democracy activist Alfred Rewane. His brutal killing has been linked to the government of former military ruler Sani Abacha.
Mr Elemi-Edu told the BBC about his arrest and how he was largely forgotten in the justice system even though military rule ended in 1999.

Effiong Elemi-Edu's testimony

“

"I was shot in my left leg shortly after my arrest. We were all tortured and beaten”

I left my house to buy some suya (grilled meat) for dinner when I heard repeated gunshots. So I ran to a drain ditch to take cover - and when the shooting died down I wanted to rush to my residence.

On my way I heard a voice shouting: "Stop there, stop there!" I had to stop. "Who are you?"
I explained myself to the armed police, but before I knew what was happening, they were saying I was an armed robber and I was already in their vehicle.
Then they drove me down to Sars [Special Anti-Robbery Squad] - it wasn't only me. I saw a lot of people inside and they were all arrested.
I'd never been to the Sars detention camp before. I was handcuffed and asked to sit down under the fruit tree and before I knew it, a man came and took me to "theatre".
I didn't know what "the theatre" was - I thought I was going for an operation. At the "theatre" I was asked to lie down flat, face on the ground, my hands up and they chained me with rubber twine and then suspended me from my legs.
They were asking me if I knew the incident that happened to Pa Rewane and I said I didn't know what they were talking about.
"I have never robbed, I've never stolen in my life - I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

Wrongly Accused

• 6 October 1995: Alfred Rewane is murdered
• 11 November 1995: Effiong Elemi-Edu is arrested
• January 1996: Effiong Elemi-Edu is forced to sign a statement; accused of Rewane's urder
• June 1998: Military ruler Sani Abacha dies
• May 1999: Military rule ends with elections
• January 2011: Effiong Elemi-Edu is freed after a judge rules on lack of evidence. His co-accused Lucky Igbinovia is freed too. Their fellow survivor Elvis Iremuna was released a few months earlier

I had never met him, and there was no way for me to get in touch with people.

I wasn't able to ask for a lawyer, my family weren't even allowed to get close to me. When they came looking for us, they drove them away and started insulting them.
About 50 of us had been arrested but seven of us were eventually charged with the murder of Pa Rewane.
I was shot in my left leg shortly after my arrest. We were all tortured and beaten.
And when I refused to recopy a statement that the police wrote with my handwriting, I received the same torture - I was punched with blows to my left ear which filled up with blood.
I was almost at the point of death so I did what they asked me.
Four of the others died while in detention in 1996 because of the torture. Only three of us have been released.
Basketball dreams

“My wife gave up and got married to another man”

God alone knows why he kept me alive. I had it at the back of my mind that God would rescue me one day.

Life in jail was a hell. Not hearing from your people. During the whole process I lost my mother. She died the month after my detention of a heart attack.
My wife gave up and got married to another man.
I was always very sad. It was very painful, there was nothing you could do but look at the four corners of the prisons 24 hours a day.
Then there was the tribunal time - it was no joke back and forth in the Black Maria (police van).
There were 50 appearances before military tribunals - and between 200 to 250 adjournments in court. No trial ever got under way. You become so tired.

Alfred Rewane

• Prominent pro-democracy activist critical of military ruler Sani Abacha
• Killed in his home on 6 October 1995
• Gunmen pulled into his compound in a van marked with the logo of one of his companies
• Staff and security overpowered and locked up
• Rewane shot dead in the chest in his bedroom
• His killers are yet to be found

When the ruling was made for my release last month I felt like cold water was poured on me. I give glory to God.

I am now living with a younger cousin in Lagos. I am trying to locate my other family members and will soon travel to my village in Cross River State. I intend to visit the site of my mother's grave.
My life has just been wasted like that but God has a purpose for it.
I had dreamt of becoming a basketball player - because of my six-feet-four-inches height my school mates nicked me "The Dream" after Hakeem Olajuwon [a professional Nigerian player in the US].
Coming back to society is not that easy. I'm calling on government that they should do something because presently now I don't know where I will start from.
I don't have anything. I've lost many things.

Brazil legend Ronaldo retires from football

2002 - Brazil win fifth title (available to UK users only) Brazilian legend Ronaldo has confirmed his retirement from football. The 34-year-old had a glittering career, helping Brazil win two World Cups and being named Fifa World Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2002. He had been expected to quit at the end of the season but the early elimination of his club, Corinthians, from the Copa Libertadores brought forward the date. "I wanted to continue, but I can't. I think of an action, but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time," he said. Ronaldo's career took him to some of Europe's top clubs, including Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Italian neighbours AC Milan and Inter Milan. But it was on the world stage where he made the biggest impact, scoring a record total of 15 goals at three World Cups. He also went to the 1994 tournament in the United States as a member of the Brazilian squad that went on to win the trophy, but the 17-year-old did not get on the pitch. However, four years later he scored four goals to help Brazil reach the final against hosts France. Mystery surrounded the match as Ronaldo's name was left off the teamsheet when it was issued 72 minutes before kick-off, only for an amended version to appear in time for the start of the game amid rumours of panic attacks and a dispute within the Brazilian camp. RONALDO'S GAMES AND GOALS Cruzeiro 1993-94 - 45 games, 41 goals PSV Eindhoven 1994-96 - 58 games, 54 goals Barcelona 1996-97 - 49 games, 47 goals Inter Milan 1997-2002 - 99 games, 59 goals Real Madrid 2002-07 - 164 games, 98 goals AC Milan 2007-08 - 20 games, nine goals Corinthians 2009-11 - 31 games, 18 goals Totals - 466 games, 326 goals Whatever happened prior to the game, Ronaldo was below par and his performance was eclipsed by Zinedine Zidane, the only other footballer to have won the World Player of the Year title on three occasions. The Frenchman scored twice as France won 3-0. At the 2002 World Cup Ronaldo was at his imperious best, scoring in every game in Japan and South Korea, bar the 2-1 quarter-final victory over England.

Brazil legend Ronaldo retires from football

2002 - Brazil win fifth title (available to UK users only) Brazilian legend Ronaldo has confirmed his retirement from football. The 34-year-old had a glittering career, helping Brazil win two World Cups and being named Fifa World Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2002. He had been expected to quit at the end of the season but the early elimination of his club, Corinthians, from the Copa Libertadores brought forward the date. "I wanted to continue, but I can't. I think of an action, but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time," he said. Ronaldo's career took him to some of Europe's top clubs, including Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Italian neighbours AC Milan and Inter Milan. But it was on the world stage where he made the biggest impact, scoring a record total of 15 goals at three World Cups. He also went to the 1994 tournament in the United States as a member of the Brazilian squad that went on to win the trophy, but the 17-year-old did not get on the pitch. However, four years later he scored four goals to help Brazil reach the final against hosts France. Mystery surrounded the match as Ronaldo's name was left off the teamsheet when it was issued 72 minutes before kick-off, only for an amended version to appear in time for the start of the game amid rumours of panic attacks and a dispute within the Brazilian camp. RONALDO'S GAMES AND GOALS Cruzeiro 1993-94 - 45 games, 41 goals PSV Eindhoven 1994-96 - 58 games, 54 goals Barcelona 1996-97 - 49 games, 47 goals Inter Milan 1997-2002 - 99 games, 59 goals Real Madrid 2002-07 - 164 games, 98 goals AC Milan 2007-08 - 20 games, nine goals Corinthians 2009-11 - 31 games, 18 goals Totals - 466 games, 326 goals Whatever happened prior to the game, Ronaldo was below par and his performance was eclipsed by Zinedine Zidane, the only other footballer to have won the World Player of the Year title on three occasions. The Frenchman scored twice as France won 3-0. At the 2002 World Cup Ronaldo was at his imperious best, scoring in every game in Japan and South Korea, bar the 2-1 quarter-final victory over England.

Ronaldo's legacy a complex one

Ronaldo's legacy a complex one

Injuries cut short eight of striker's 15 pro seasons

And then, just like that, he went down again. A sprint into space, his left foot seemingly crazy-glued to the San Siro pitch, his left knee buckling and his body collapsing in a heap.
Ronaldo's latest injury, three minutes after coming on as a substitute in a Milan-Livorno fixture Wednesday, had plenty of déjà vu about it. This was the same man who, of course, famously broke down six minutes into his comeback game in 2000.
Back then, the shock was universal. I remember going to interview Michael Schumacher the following day. Here was a guy whose own life is on the line at every Grand Prix and yet, when he spoke to Ronaldo, his eyes told the whole story: they nearly welled up at the cruelty of fate snuffing out talent. It was as if the whole world was a party to the damage done to the Brazilian's career.
This time it's a bit different. For a start, Ronaldo is 31. If eight years ago there was still a belief that he could come back and elevate himself to the status of a Pelé or a Diego Maradona, this time we know better. We know this is a player who has enjoyed just seven injury-free seasons out of 15. The illusion that he would take his place among the all-time greats was shattered a long time ago.
And yet, we grieve. We mourn the misfortune that seems to follow this man at every turn. Or, rather, some of us grieve. Others think they know better. Others have turned into doctors overnight, blaming his injury on his weight, on his lack of serious training, on his propensity to party rather than lead the kind of ascetic life we expect from our professionals.
Just why we feel the need to become self-appointed sports medicine experts, judgmental of Ronaldo and his behaviour off the pitch, remains an enduring mystery. But it's clear that, in recent seasons, he hasn't caught a break: He was by turns a scapegoat at Real Madrid, the souce of all ills for Brazil's underperformance at Germany '06 and a problem child at Milan. Or so we're led to believe.
I've met the guy a few times but I certainly can't pretend to know what makes him tick or where the truth lies. Does he have so little regard for his professional career that he's happy to jeopardize it for a few extra plates of pasta or a few more late nights clubbing? Is the man himself the source of all his problems? I don't know. And I don't think we should focus on the criticism or where precisely the blame should fall.
There is a good chance we will never again see him play at the highest level. His contract at Milan expires in June and he won't be back training until October at the earliest, which would suggest it won't be renewed. What happens next is anyone's guess. He may return to Brazil, try to get fit again and then head off to Major League Soccer in '09. Or he may stick around in Milan, signing one of those contracts where he gets paid per match. Or, perhaps, he may call it a day.
If he does, I don't want to remember the last 10 years or so. I don't want to picture him crying in a Milan shirt or tumbling over in pain in an Inter jersey. Nor do I want to be reminded of his somewhat more successful time as one of Florentino Pérez's Galácticos (when, lest we forget, he scored 69 league goals in his first three seasons) or the three World Cups he starred in for Brazil (winning it all in '02). Those times offered glimpses of the great Ronaldo, but nothing more.
I want to be able to close my eyes and think of the Ronaldo at Barcelona or the one in his first season at Inter. The man-child, grinning fiendishly as he overwhelmed defenders and thumped in goals, week in, week out, without pause. The Phenom, unplayable, undefendable, unexplainable. That's the Ronaldo I will remember.
I'll leave the rest to those who need to find an explanation -- or a scapegoat -- for everything else. As far as I'm concerned, my Ronaldo retired in 1997 and the only thing that prevents him from ascending to the company of Pelé and Maradona is a lack of longevity. As for the "other Ronaldo," he was just a pale imitation -- and a very, very unlucky footballer.
Good luck, Ronnie. Whatever you choose to do, may you find the serenity which eluded you in the last 10 years.

Sports Illustrated