STORY OF OGONNA IGBOJIONU

 26 Years In Prison 

After Spending 26 Years On Ð3ath Row At Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos State For Buying A St0len Generator, Ogbonna Igbojionu Reunites With His Mother. He’s from Abia State, and was 22 years old as at the time of his impr!sonment in 1999.”

He bought the generator from Segun Ajibade.

He sold it, thinking it was legit. Two weeks later, segun Ajibade returned with police, claiming the generator was stolen. They both got arrested at the spot.

What followed was a nightmare. Ogbonnaya alleges he was beaten and forced to sign a statement he couldn’t read. Remanded in 1999, he was sentenced to death in 2003 for allegedly buying stolen property. He was just 26, his life upended, sent to Kirikiri’s death row.

For 26 YEARS, Ogbonnaya languished in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison. His youth, dreams, and freedom were stolen. Meanwhile, Segun Ajibade, the actual culprit who sold him the generator, reportedly walked free in 2016 after receiving a pardon from Ogun State’s governor.

Ogbonnaya, along with co-accused Kolawole Oladeji (a technician) and others, faced a flawed trial. They appealed to the Court of Appeal but were allegedly misled into withdrawing it with false promises of a pardon that never came.

In 2025, TikToker Olumide Ogunsanwo (“Sea King”) spotlighted Ogbonnaya’s plight, igniting public outcry. Simon Oshi, from Enugu, saw the post, visited Kirikiri with lawyers, and confirmed Ogbonnaya’s Abia roots. He reached out to Abia Gov. Alex Otti.

Gov. Otti moved fast. He sent Abia’s Attorney General to verify the case, coordinated with Lagos and Ogun State authorities, and secured the release of Ogbonnaya, Olawale Adediji, and another inmate on July 6, 2025. The third couldn’t travel to Abia for the handover.

The reunion was emotional. On July 6, at Abia’s Government House, Ogbonnaya, now 48, tearfully reunited with his mother after 26 years. Videos of their embrace went viral, a bittersweet moment of joy and pain. He thanked Otti for “giving me another chance at life.”

Kolawole Oladeji, the technician, was also freed. He’d repaired the generator, unaware of its origins, yet suffered the same fate. Both men were promised reintegration support by Otti, who tasked commissioners to help them rebuild their lives.

After Segun Ajibade’s 2016 pardon, he faded from public view. The real culprit walked free while innocents suffered— evidence of a badly flawed justice system.