Fourteen-year-old Boy begs Governor for freedom, cries out from Correctional Centre

Aboy who claimed to be 14 years old, Abdullahi Surajo, aka Bolo, presently languishing at Kurumawa Maximum Prison, has made a passionate appeal to Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, to intervene and set him free from the correctional centre.

Speaking with the press, Bolo, at the prison during a visit by the IG Special Taskforce (Police Duty Solicitors Scheme), said, “Tell our governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, to help me out of this hell at the centre of the city because I have been denied access to justice.”

However, the 14-year-old boy, who admitted to having, in concert with others now at large, forcefully dispossessed a lady of her phone at Naibawa Quarters, tearfully explained, “My condition, as you can see, is critical. Deep inside me, I know I’m slowly dying here, and only the timely intervention of our amiable governor can save my life.”

According to him, “I need an opportunity to sincerely repent to Allah and, as well, apologise to my victims and show a new leaf to enable me to contribute positively to society.”

Bolo, who couldn’t control his emotions during the brief encounter with journalists, said, “I’m an orphan in the house of my uncle with my siblings, alongside 33 other members of the extended family, where I was exposed to depravity and excruciating poverty amidst the dwindling revenue of our uncle, who retired from public service last year.”

Surajo said, “I’m the youngest here in this facility. I’ve spent a year and a couple of months here, and because of the absence of legal representation at the court, authorities hardly take me to court again.”

He revealed that “on one or two occasions they did, the usual routine was, ‘Where is his lawyer? Take him back to remand.’”

Bolo explained, “Unfortunately, there is nothing reformative in this facility. The senior boys are here, while the day-to-day life here exposes one to hellish conditions.”

He alleged that he has been abandoned by his family at a point: “I was taken to court, and none of my relatives has set their footsteps here since I was incarcerated.”

Ever since I was hounded here, I’ve been in one cloth; personal hygiene is something else, and of course, no one cares, but the lesson of life is that I’ve cheated myself by getting involved in crime and criminality so early in life,” he said.

Bolo, however, refused to comment on the experience of life at the facility, adding that “it’s evident that life here isn’t pleasant, and to say it’s hell may not be far from the truth.”