Man Freed at 32 After 18 Years in Prison Without Trial 

By Victor Idajili

 Gospel Kinanee walked out of Port Harcourt Correctional Centre last month at age 32, ending an 18-year ordeal that began when he vanished from home at 14. He had no trial, no conviction, and no record of any offence.

His elder brother, who asked to remain anonymous, said the family gave up hope years ago. Gospel disappeared in 2007 after going out to play in their community. By 9pm he hadn’t returned. Searches at police stations, hospitals and prison yards turned up nothing.

“We thought he slept at a friend’s house,” the brother told reporters. “After four days, fear set in. My parents died the same year from grief. My father sold a large farmland for N300,000 just to keep searching.”

 
In early 2025, a call came: Gospel was alive, locked up in Port Harcourt prison. Lawyers from a prison welfare and rehabilitation group had spotted him during a visit and traced his family. 

“When I got to the correctional centre, I saw him outside,” the brother said. “He didn’t recognize me. I broke down. He went in a healthy 14-year-old boy in Elementary 3. He came out a 32-year-old man who can’t answer basic questions.”

Medical tests since his release show his body is fine, but his mental health is severely damaged. The family is now covering treatment costs with help from the legal team that secured his freedom.

 
Prison officials could not say why Gospel was detained. “They don’t even know the reason,” his brother said. “We asked for a case file. There was none. He was just dumped there.”

The Rivers State Chief Judge later granted him clemency and he was released. 

The family has now sued the Nigerian Correctional Service and Rivers State government, demanding justice and compensation for 18 years of illegal detention. Court proceedings start Monday.

Instead of an apology, the brother says prison officials have been calling him, warning him to stop talking to the media. 

“They told me to ‘thank them’ for releasing him and stop spoiling their name,” he said. “But my brother spent 18 years in their custody and they never looked for us.”

Gospel now lives with his brother. He attends church and hospital visits but stays indoors most of the time under supervision. His former classmates have families and careers. He’s relearning how to live.

“It’s a mixed feeling,” the brother said. “We’re grateful he’s alive. But seeing what they took from him breaks me. As a human being, he deserved better.”

The family is asking for three things: justice for the illegal detention, compensation for medical care and lost years, and accountability for a system that locks people up without records or questions.