An innocent bricklayer who spent 24 years in jail has been set free and is now sharing his ordeal.
Lukman Adeyemi, a 50-year-old bricklayer, was just 26 years old when he accompanied a friend who had been invited by police to the police station.
His act of loyalty towards his friend led to him being detained. He ended up spending 24 years in jail and was only freed on June 14, 2024.
He spent nine years in pre-trial detention, followed by an unbearable 15 years on death row.
Narrating how he was detained, he explained that when he got to the station with his friend, during interrogations by SARS Police officers, he endured severe physical and psychological torment, leading to coerced confessions for crimes he knew nothing about.
Sharing his story with newsmen, he said: “I am Lukman Adeyemi, a native of Iwerele, Iwajowa Local Government, Oyo State. I am a Bricklayer by profession. I was 26 years old when I had this problem.
“In August 2000, after returning home from work with a friend living with me, Ismaila Lasisi, we were told that the Police came to look for Ismaila and he was asked to report himself in the station.
“I immediately decided to follow him to the station, lo and behold I was arrested and detained along with him. I was tortured to the point of death over a crime I knew nothing about, right from the police station.
“I had a close shave with the death over a murder of a woman who was hired by some ex-friends of Ismaila Lasisi to fetch water for them at the construction site. The woman left home in the morning and she never returned home.
“Ismaila Lasisi once lived with them. He begged to come and live with me after he had a misunderstanding with these people in March. I knew these people from a far distance. Our paths never crossed in life for anything. This was how I was charged to court along with these people over an offence I never had any knowledge of.
“In 2009 we were sentenced to death. We filed separate appeals but the appeal failed to the Supreme Court.
“My story of innocence to whoever cared to listen fell on deaf ears, with many questioning, ‘If you’re not one of them, why mention your name?’ ‘If truly you are innocent why can’t court free you?’
“I felt abandoned by truth itself. I spent 24 years behind bars like 24 hours, a sleepless night that lasted for two decades.
