Sunday Anichebe is undoubtedly a popular inmate at Enugu Prison. Although he is not in the military, people called him General. This is not surprising. For 19 years he was an inmate of the prisons having been incarcerated in 1988.

Recently, when prison officials handed over materials to three former prison inmates, Anichebe was the star. He was hailed and called "general" as he arrived. Confidently, he returned the greetings of his former colleagues with the wave of both hands, before walking to where the prison officials, among them, the state Comptroller, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, were already waiting to hand over materials to those who successfully went through the prisons skill acquisition workshop.

Anichebe, who later explained that he was the general provost of the prison narrated how he was sentenced to life jail in 1988 in Niger State for armed robbery.

Beginning of the trouble
He claimed that he was travelling to the eastern part of the country from Sokoto when one man he did not know alleged that he wanted to snatch his vehicle. He was subsequently arraigned, tried and sentenced in Niger State, but he chose to serve his sentence in the East.

Getting pardon
But he was granted pardon by the Niger State governor on August 27, 2007 and was released on the same day. It was thus from his village, Otuocha, in the Anambra Local Government of Anambra State that he walked into his former abode dressed in Hausa attire.
Anichebe, who had lived in the northern part of the country before he went to jail at the age of 27, told Daily Sun that he was returning to Brinin Kebbi, Kebbi State to start life afresh with the wielding machine and accessories given to him by the prison authorities.

"My people are there and that is where I have stayed all my life. I want to go and start a new life. I am not yet married, but I hope to get married as soon as possible; as soon as I settle down."
The freed prisoner, who denied committing the crime for which he was sentenced for life, said that life in prison was quite different from life outside.

"This is a nation where one is on one’s own and we got used to it. Feeding? We ate beans every morning, then in the afternoon we ate garri, or sometimes rice."
Mr Anichebe, who said the vote of thanks at the ceremony, thanked the prison authorities for the gesture and promised that they would surely use the skills they acquired and the equipment to start a new life after prison.

Plea to government
He called on the government to come to the aid of the prison by providing more tools for the workshop, just as he called on the government to also establish schools in prisons, stressing that inmates are ready to utilize opportunities while incarcerated.

The Comptroller of the Prison, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, who handed over wielding equipment, hair cut tools, tailoring machine and accessories to the three outgoing inmates who benefited from the ‘After Care service’ training at the prison’s workshop, urged the trio to use the equipment and start life after prison.

He noted that the society is not interested in their crimes, but that they should be of good behaviour, saying: "We’ve never recorded returnees here, please as you leave don’t come back here again; we want you to be accepted by your people."

Alhaji Idris condemned the situation where prisoners are not welcomed back to the wider society after being released from prison, stressing that anybody can be a prisoner.
"All the people here are not armed robbers, and they can change; I have started seeing changes in them, they have assured me and I am assuring the people that they can not go back to crime ."
He noted that the ‘After Care Service’ was established to train prisoners on some skills and encourage them to start a better life once they are set free.

Other beneficiaries were Ikechukwu Nwankwo, who received hair cut instruments and Salisu Mohammed, who got sewing machine and accessories.
Eighty-four out of the 894 inmates of the Enugu Prisons, among them, a woman are awaiting execution, having been condemned to death, while 17 others were serving life sentences.