April 05, 2025
In a heart-touching video obtained by SaharaReporters, a frail 90-year-old woman has made a passionate appeal to Nigeria’s former First Lady, Patience Jonathan, to release her daughter, Deborah Erema, who has been unlawfully detained alongside 14 others for over five years for alleged case of stolen jewelries.
The elderly woman, whose health is visibly failing, was in tears as she lamented her predicaments and current state of hunger, neglect, and isolation.
“Nobody go give me food, nah only her dey give me. I don’t have anybody. I just go beg beg. I am now a begger. See me as I dey now,” she said in the emotional footage.
“Please release my daughter, make she go find food for me. Nah she dey give me food. I don beg tire. I don tire. Make una leave my pikin for me. If I die now, who go bury me. Nah only her I get.”
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Her daughter, Deborah Erema, alongside 14 others have been in detention since 2019, following on the order of Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, who accused them of jewelry theft.
Deborah Erema and the other accused, mostly domestic staff who worked for the Jonathans, were arrested in connection to the alleged theft of jewelry belonging to the former First Lady.
Despite spending more than five years behind bars, the 15 domestic staff have not been convicted in any court of law, SaharaReporters has learned.
The list of detainees includes Williams Alami, Deborah Erema, Vincent Olabiyi, Ebuka Cosmos, John Dashe, Tamunokuro Abaku, Sahabi Lima, Emmanuel Aginwa, Precious Kingsley, Tamunosiki Achese, Salomi Wareboka, Sunday Reginald, Boma Oba, Vivian Golden, and Emeka Benson.
These individuals have remained cut off from their families, careers, and lives, all under the shadow of unproven allegations orchestrated by someone who once held sway at the highest levels of Nigerian power.
The unjust detention has already cost Deborah dearly. Her daughter, who had been single handedly caring for her aged grandmother died recently after a prolonged illness.
“She had so much to carry. She was a single mother with two or three kids. The burden of taking care of the children, her sick grandmother, and worrying about her mother in prison was just too much,” a source familiar with the situation told SaharaReporters.
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“She eventually fell ill and died. It was a slow, painful death, worsened by the hopelessness of it all.”
The defendants were brought before the High Court of Bayelsa sitting in Yenagoa, the state capital, in 2019.
They were accused of stealing seven gold bangles and jewellery, five Samsung air conditioners, two sets of upholstery chairs, and six Samsung flat-screen televisions valued at N200m.
They were also slammed with 18 counts bordering on conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit felony to wit: armed robbery, conspiracy to commit felony to wit: burglary and stealing, among others.
