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Two days ago, I had the awesome privilege of speaking to the inmates of the KiriKiri Medium and Maximum prisons. I was invited to be part of a project called “Say No To Crime” organised by the Lamboghini.
I was blessed to be in the company of highly gifted individuals; such as Mike Aremu, Dekunle Fuji, Rooftop MC’s, DJ Jimmy Jatt and Sammy Okposo; just to name a few.
I’ve always been of the opinion that prisons should become “correctional facilities” as I don’t believe that the prison system has fulfilled its mandate. My thought is that through critical mind transformation, inmates can change their perception and become relevant to the outside world. My contribution to this process was to make them better invariably creating a safer society.
My dream is to have every ex – inmate become an Ambassador of “Say No To Crime”. Everyone was stunned as to how well the inmates received me and my message… it was unbelievable to see the dead fires of their hope kindle and begin to burn brighter; this was definitely not my doing; it was undoubtedly, God’s grace; who had given me what to say.
So, what was His message?
There were several things that He’d asked me to say:
1. Your name is not what you’ve been called, but what you answer to (ex – con, inmate or hero). Overwhelmingly, they chose to be called heroes and demonstrated this by screaming; “I AM A HERO”!
2. The fact that you pass through a bus stop on your way to your destination does not mean that you come from or belong to the bus stop. On the way to great destinations, many have passed through the prison bus stop, but they did not define themselves as prisoners.
3. Many heroes have gone into the prisons and didn’t come out as villains. I shared with them; several classic examples of heroes who went into prison and came out to change their nation.
a. Awolowo went through prison and came out as Finance Minister.
b. Gani Fawehinmi went into prison countless times, but was regarded as the People’s Lawyer and had the most celebrated funeral in recent history.
c. Wole Soyinka came out of prison to become a Nobel Laureate.
d. Gandhi left prison to become the “Father of India”.
e. Mandela left prison to become South Africa’s First Black President.
All of the aforementioned went to prison by the same legal system that found them guilty of some crime but the social system proclaimed them as heroes. By this time, the guys were screaming “ I AM A HERO”!
As I continued, the Lord gave me some insight into the differences between heroes and villains.
1. Heroes keep a great attitude in prison (refer to Mandela, Gani etc) and villains tend to have a bad attitude.
2. Heroes may be physically limited by prison bars but have freedom of mind to travel outside into society; while villains live, eat, dream and breathe the four walls of prison.
3. Heroes dream of going out to make society a better place; while villains only dream of the same things that got them into prison in the first place.
4. Villains come out of prison seeking for help from people who want to avoid them; while heroes seek to help the society for which they went to prison for.
5. Villains think they have nothing and must take what others have, but heroes think that though they have nothing, they have something to give!
6. Villains say no to love, heroes say no to crime.
My ultimate aim is to raise an army of motivational speakers, lawyers, medical personnel and every kind of volunteer who will join me as we go into every Nigerian prison, speaking to every “temporary resident” (inmate) and find ways to help those who were wrongfully incarcerated (a majority of the temporary residents) as well as provide much needed medical supplies to them.
My hope is to “set the captives free”, in their minds and also in some cases, in their bodies; ultimately becoming Ambassadors of our anti crime campaign.
I also look forward to helping the temporary residents discover their talents, develop them into skill via training so as to be able to earn income, while incarcerated; eventually becoming financially independent of family or friends who got them into trouble in the first place.
Nigeria is blessed to have the greatest Comptroller General of Prisons today! He’s totally supportive of this vision. Also in partnership with us, is the Association of Female Attorneys of Nigeria have pledged their support to go with us to every prison in the country and render free legal assistance to every
falsely incarcerated inmate.
The goal is simple!
Make these guys better than when they came in. By doing this, we will all be beneficiaries of a safer society.
WILL YOU HELP ME MAKE THIS HAPPEN?
God bless you.
FD
PS: I heard the voice of Jesus say, “when I was in prison, you visited me”. Having done this, I feel Him smile on me.
You can catch my session of this program on NTA’s “Behind the Wall” as well as videos that I’ll upload to my website as soon as I get it.
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