By Fred Ezeh
It was like a dream for Ibrahim Hassan, Samuel Sule, Usman Lawan Kolomi, Abubakar Yakubu and Aliyu Barber, who had been in Keffi Prison for years and did not encisage that thought they would smell freedom in the years to come.
They had concluded that their cases had been forgotten by their families and abandoned by the society, until last week when fate smiled at them through the women council of the Ansar-ud-deen Society, Abuja branch.
The women council is the arm of the Ansar-ud-deen Society of Nigeria that has, over the years, championed the cause of propagating Islamic morals and social advancement of its members in particular and of all Muslims in general.
The women, last week gathered at the Ansar-ud-deen Mosque in the Maitama district of Abuja to offer gratitude to God for sparing their lives to witness and celebrate the 21st anniversary of the society, appreciating the wonders of Allah in their lives.
The women, some of whom were accompanied to the event by their husbands and children, all dressed in the green and white colours of the association.
The chairperson of the Abuja branch of the council, Alhaja Saadat Duduyemi, in her welcome address, congratulated the women and appreciated Allah for the opportunity to witness the 21st anniversary of the women society.
She said that the council executives visited the Keffi Prison as part of activities to mark the 21st anniversary and to share in the pains and grief of the inmates, some of whom were serving jail terms either for unknown offences or could not meet their bail conditions.
She told Abuja Metro that she and her team were extremely astonished to hear that some of inmates in the prison were denied freedom for years because they could not afford bail, which, in some cases, was only N3,000.
She said: “My team and I were extremely shocked by the development and we quickly made further enquiries from the prison officials to know what we could do to secure the freedom of these five persons. That we did and successfully secure their freedom, with a charge to turn a new leaf.
“We were informed by the prison officials that the offences hanging on the neck of the inmates ranged from theft to pick pocket, smoking weed, and other ‘minor’ cases.
“We paid off their debts and met other bail conditions that we could easily do. We are extremely grateful to Allah that we could give somebody a second chance to make amends.”
Duduyemi further told our correspondent that re-orientation was immediately organised by her team to quickly rehabilitate, reorientate the former prison inmates for easy reintegration back into society, with strong warning not to go back to crime.
“Food, clothing and financial support were equally provided for them to return home and begin the process of gradual reintegration into the society,” she said.
Meanwhile, the women procured and distributed various empowerment equipment worth N1 million to 10 of its members who were confirmed by an independent committee to be at the bottom of the economic and social ladder.
Some of the items donated to the women are industrial sewing machine, refrigerator, ice block making machine, grinding machine and several other economic empowerment items.
The objectives, according to the council chairperson, was to arm the women with economic tools that would be helpful in their daily economic activities, thus making them financially relevant in family discussions.
Each of the beneficiary, according to her, got N100, 000 worth of empowerment item in line with the request earlier presented to the committee that made the selection.
She added that the committee have also set up mechanisms that would regularly monitor the progress of the beneficiaries in their individual endeavour. The committee, she explained would periodically offer professional advice and guidance to enable the women grow and mature in their different area of interest.
A fashion designer base in Dutse Alhaji, Abuja, Saadat Siamiyu, who was given an industrial sewing machine expressed gratitude to Allah and the leadership of Ansar-ud-deen women society for the empowerment, promising to make maximum use of the machine to the benefit of her family and the entire Muslim community.