The pictures of Chidinma, the alleged killer of Michael Usifo, the Chief Executive officer of Super TV have flooded the internet as she emerges queen in a beauty pageant contest organized at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison where she has been incarcerated while her case is been heard in court.
As should be expected, these pictures making round on social media have generated a lot of reactions from Nigerians with many condemning the organizers of the show insisting that killers like Chidinma don’t deserve to enjoy such luxuries and others supporting the show arguing that Chidinma remains innocent until she is convicted by a competent court of jurisdiction. Others have also claimed that even if she is eventually found guilty, life has to continue for her in prison unless the death penalty is levied against her.
No doubt, the case hanging on her neck is serious and the possible psychological impact the current pictures making round are likely to have on the deceased family is also worth taking into consideration. However, it is also very important that Nigerians don’t allow their outraged against the crime Chidinma is been accused of to drive them into a vindictive society.
I recall staying indoors for weeks during the Covid-19 Pandemic and what it felt like. Sometimes during that period, it was like I was going to lose my mind. The experience of those weeks taught me the value of freedom. Being in prison alone is enough mental torture for those who understood the value of freedom.
During my days in college, my school had an affiliation with the Akwaibom State Correctional Centre at Uyo the capital of the state. I participated on two occasions at a football matches with the beloved brothers in prison. I observed their joy each time we came to play with them. Immediately the matches ended, they returned and were locked up again in their cells. I had frequently imagined what it was like being locked up in those small cells for years. It is death while still alive. No wonder, many of them commit suicide giving the opportunity.
This doesn’t in any way mean I am supporting whatever went wrong between Chidinma and the deceased, for which she is in prison and standing trial. I am only saying here that a good and virtues society is built on the pillars of humanity and that an outrage against crime not properly moderated can make the society as guilty as the criminals they collectively punish.
Therefore, if the prison inmates are not giving the opportunities to recreate either in sports or other social events, the possibility of losing their minds arises and that would not be good. What should be clear here is that Chidinma is still a human being no matter what. She also has parents, siblings and relatives who mourn each time they read or hear about her sorry condition.
Those in the prison have been caught. There are many who still walk free in the society today but are more deadly and who commit heinous crimes on daily basis under the cover of darkness.
Some prison inmates are on death roll, and some on life sentence. Even if they are going to be killed the next minute, humanity demands that we should at least allow them the luxury to smile in their pains. I don’t really think those contestants were happy in the real sense. Who would truly like to become the Queen of a Prison?
I must personally commend the prison controller of the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison for the effort to ensure that the humanity of this often forgotten part of our broken world is given is protected
Chidinma could have been anyone. If she didn’t post the picture herself, who do we blame?
