According to him, they have no intention of fleeing from the country since the Court had declared them innocent of the eight-count charge brought against them.
He said, “We were shot severally, such shooting that a human being cannot survive. They (security operatives) battered my right side, and battered right eye. Around the head, from the cheek up to the head, they counted about 38 fragments. Also, my wife has gunshot on her stomach and her thigh.
“Up till now, these fragments release poisons like lead and cadmium. I am still living with some amount of those poisons in my body, including the fragments of bullets. It’s the Will of Allah that I’m still alive; because when they tested the level of lead in my body, at one time, it was about 244, which they said a normal human being should contain only 10, but I had 244 in my body. Well, that’s the will of God that I’m alive, anyway.
“They know that we have a health issue, but we were kept with these difficulties incarcerated for almost 6 years. But, by the grace of God, we survived it. Here (in Nigeria), they said they could not remove it, but our doctors, who came from outside the country, studied the situation and said they would be able to remove it.
“An order was given by the court of law, that we have the right to seek this medical assistance outside Nigeria. We were thinking that immediately we are out of the prison, it will not be a matter of days we will leave this country. When we came out, we were hopping to get our passports back.
“In fact, our lawyer, after they ruled that we were discharged, went and begged the presiding judge to give an order that our passports should be released to us because of our health problem. The judge said that there was no need for him to give any order, because we have no charges. We have been discharged. He said we were entitled to all our property. The court doesn’t have to give orders.
“When we came out we were thinking in a matter of a week it will be okay for us. But, up till now, the passports have not reached our hand. At one time, the security operatives said they have lost the passports, and they are no longer in their hands.
“So, we took steps to make another one. But, at the end of the day, we were told that “passport flagging” has been placed on us; meaning that the two of us have no right to leave this country. We don’t know what for. At least, officially, they didn’t say it.
“So the matter has not come to an end. We are still being, in a way, incarcerated, because we are not allowed out of the country for no reason.”