Man Freed After 8 Years in Detention Without Trial
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered the release of Mr. John Gift Tobia, who spent eight years in detention at the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre without trial following his arrest in 2017.
Tobia was reportedly arrested by the Nigeria Police at Rumuokoro Junction in Port Harcourt in 2017.
He was subsequently arraigned before a magistrate court, which issued a remand order that led to his prolonged detention. However, the police prosecutors failed to press formal charges, effectively stalling his trial for the entire eight-year period.
The exact nature of the alleged offence remains unclear, as do the circumstances surrounding his arrest.
Nevertheless, his long incarceration without trial has triggered public outrage, with many Nigerians taking to social media to condemn the judicial system for enabling such prolonged detentions without due process.
The Rivers State High Court, in its ruling, declared Tobia’s detention illegal and immoral, stating that the prolonged incarceration without trial violated his fundamental human rights. The court ordered his immediate release.
His freedom was secured on Tuesday, June 4, through the efforts of Barrister Hope Azinuchi Azeru-Oziri, a human rights lawyer popularly known on social media as Law in Pidgin. Azeru-Oziri revealed that she took up the case pro bono after what she described as divine inspiration during a visit to the correctional centre earlier in 2025.
“I visited the prison on January 6, 2025, and I took up his matter. God directed me to do this case because He remembered Gift Tobia,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
She also acknowledged the contributions of her social media followers and a Nigerian living in the United Kingdom, who provided financial support to facilitate Tobia’s release.
