I have been in prison before.
Okay, this is a secret. No one knew this before now.
The year was 2017.
I had already spent almost a year in prison before my sentence was delivered.
Prior to sentencing, prisoners were kept two in a cell and periodically, they were taken blindfolded to be interrogated.
Interrogation isn't a funny experience. You would not like to experience it.The torture was something else. The suspects are tied to a metal chair, nicknamed 'the dungeon' by the inmates. The heater will then be turned on, forcing the suspect to admit to crimes which he didn't even commit.
The warders in charge interrogation are very brutal.On interrogation day,they will still be seen shining their teeth while unleashing their unpropitious acts on the inmates.
Those guys are worse than SARS.
Zero joy.
We weren't permitted to speak while in our cells, so we whispered or communicated with each other by tapping Morse code.
For those who don't know what Morse code means, it is a system for sending messages using combinations of long and short sounds to represent numbers and alphabets.
After l was sentenced was led back to my cell. Immediately began tapping a message in Morse code on the wall to a friend two floors above. He was waiting to hear what sentence l had received.
"Fourteen years," l tapped.
He couldn't believe it's he asks: "fourteen months?"
"No, l answered. "fourteen years".
He still expressed his disbelief.
I had to shout so he could hear me, "fourteen years!"
"Fourteen years!"
"Fourteen years!"
I felt someone tap my shoulder and ask; "fourteen gini?.You will soon be late for the wedding"
Wedding kó?
Dem dey do wedding for prison??
I sprang up. It was my mum who tapped me.
It was a dream.
The best description of my reaction that day is 'from sorrow to joy'.
So l been no really dey prison and wedding dey?
Well, men and brethren finally went to the wedding that day, ate jollof rice, chicken, cake, and washed it down with two bottles of Pepsi.
You can't find all these in prison you know.