Torture Scandal Rocks Patience Jonathan: Domestic Worker Reveals Ordeal After Six-Year Imprisonment

According to a handwritten note reportedly obtained by SaharaReporters, the former worker, detained at the Okaka Correctional Centre in Bayelsa State, accused Patience Jonathan of personally supervising and participating in brutal torture sessions. The note described severe violence, including hanging, whipping, and beating with sticks and machetes, allegedly carried out under the former First Lady’s direct orders.

The detainee claimed that Patience Jonathan, dissatisfied with the police’s level of brutality, ordered them to increase the severity of the torture. The note also detailed incidents where Jonathan reportedly transported the workers to her husband’s house on Nikton Road, Yenagoa, at midnight, where she personally oversaw their abuse. In one instance, she allegedly used high-heeled shoes to repeatedly assault the victims.

ASP Collins Otutu, chief security officer to Patience Jonathan’s husband, was also implicated. The note alleged that Otutu, often intoxicated, coordinated the torture sessions and brought alcohol for other officers before the abuse began.

These revelations add a grim new dimension to the case involving 15 domestic workers detained at Okaka Correctional Centre since 2019 without trial, following accusations of jewelry theft. Despite the constitutional presumption of innocence, the workers have remained imprisoned, with the trial repeatedly delayed, allegedly at the former First Lady’s instruction.

Sources close to the case have expressed concern over the prolonged detention and lack of legal proceedings. One relative explained that the workers were arrested following a break-in at one of Patience Jonathan’s apartments in Otuoke in 2019, but no concrete evidence has been presented, and the trial has stalled due to the absence of witnesses.

The workers, imprisoned for almost six years without conviction, include Williams Alami, Vincent Olabiyi, Ebuka Cosmos, John Dashe, Tamunokuro Abaku, Sahabi Lima, Emmanuel Aginwa, Erema Deborah, Precious Kingsley, Tamunosiki Achese, Salomi Wareboka, Sunday Reginald, Boma Oba, Vivian Golden, and Emeka Benson.