My Son Is Innocent’: Abia Father Begs Gov. Otti for Intervention 5yrs After Death Sentence for Phone Theft

“A grieving Abia father appeals to Governor Alex Otti for intervention, five years after his only son was sentenced to death for alleged phone theft, insisting the conviction was a miscarriage of justice.”

Five years after a High Court in Abia State sentenced his only son to death over allegations of phone theft, Mr. Mbaonu O. Mbaonu has renewed a desperate appeal to the state government, insisting that the conviction was a grave miscarriage of justice.

In 2020, according to a court judgment shared by Promise Uzoma Okoro (PUO), a High Court sitting in the Igbere Judicial Division of Abia State sentenced Mr. Obadiah Mbaonu to death after finding him guilty of armed robbery involving mobile phones. The judgment was delivered by Justice Agwu Umah Kalu, who held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Speaking recently from his residence in Ibinaukwu, Igbere, in Bende Local Government Area, the distraught father appealed to the Executive Governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, to intervene and order a review of the case. He maintained that his son was innocent and wrongly convicted.

“My son is innocent; he was framed up,” Mr. Mbaonu said, fighting back tears as he pleaded for mercy and justice for his only child.

Court documents obtained by Promise Uzoma Okoro show that the case, marked Charge No. HIG/1C/2017, arose from the arrest of Obadiah Mbaonu on January 1, 2017, when he was about 20 years old. He was subsequently arraigned later that year.

The prosecution alleged that on January 1, 2017, at Igbere, the defendant robbed Engineer Kalu I. Kalu of a Nokia Lumia phone valued at ₦120,000 and a Huawei MT7-TL10 phone valued at $600. It was further alleged that the robbery was carried out while the defendant was armed. Mbaonu pleaded not guilty to the charge on October 12, 2017.

During the trial, the prosecution called five witnesses and tendered four exhibits, including a Huawei phone allegedly recovered from the defendant.

In his judgment delivered in 2020, Justice Kalu expressed concern over the rigidity of the law while pronouncing the sentence, stating:

“I wish I had the powers to pronounce another sentence on the convict other than death… The sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead.”

Following the judgment, Mbaonu was transferred from the Afara Correctional Centre in Umuahia to the Enugu Correctional Facility. His family alleges that since the transfer, the case file has remained missing, further complicating efforts to pursue post-conviction legal remedies.

Five years after the verdict, the grieving father says the pain remains unbearable. He continues to appeal to Governor Otti to exercise his constitutional powers to review the matter, alleging that the conviction stemmed from a personal vendetta linked to a longstanding land dispute.

“I am begging for help,” he said. “This is my only son. I believe the truth will come out if this case is properly reviewed.”