Family finds missing son in Rivers prison after 18 years, says his name was changed

A family from the Ogoni tribe of Rivers State has sued the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Rivers State Government, and the Ministry of Interior for the unlawful detention and detention without trial of their son, Gospel Kinanee, after he spent 18 years in prison.

According to an interview with Arise News, the elder brother to Gospel, Paul Kinanee, stated that their younger brother went missing in one night in 2007, which prompted the family to go searching for him.

In the course of searching him, he revealed that the family visited many police stations and correctional facilities including the maximum security custodial center in Port Harcourt, where Gospel was detained without their knowledge, and they were told there was no record of him.

The long period of not finding Gospel made the family go through a lot of pain, so much so that even his parents did not die knowing where their son was.

However, they found out about his whereabouts recently while on a visit to a prison by a lawyer.

The lawyer then came back to the correctional center with Paul, who affirmed that the prisoner was actually his brother and is currently 32 years old.

According to reports, he had been detained for almost twenty years without going through any court proceedings and without a lawyer.

He got released from prison along with 20 other prisoners during a jail delivery exercise carried out by the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Amadi.

It is said that the Kinanee family intends to claim for compensation and justice as the life of Gospel has been destroyed because of his unlawful detention.

There is now a video clip available where the brother of Gospel tells about their entire experience.