A 63-year-old land agent detained at the Oke Kura Correctional Facility, Ilorin, Kwara State capital, for over four months reportedly died on Friday morning.
The land agent, identified as Alhaji Taye Hussein Abubakar, was said to have been involved in land deals that resulted in legal dispute.
A relation of the deceased, who spoke with journalists, accused the judiciary and the authorities of the correctional facility of neglect.
“He was involved in land deals that resulted in court matters. The court released him on bail but he could not appear in court on the day when he was to attend court because he was sick.
“So he was picked up and detained since then, about four or five months ago. And he was not brought to court since then but abandoned.
“At least, he should have been given a second chance. How could he have got money to repay those involved in the land deals if he was kept in prison? The judge was approached and begged to release him on bail with some sureties to stand for him but all to no avail.
“So, on Friday, we learnt he was rushed to hospital. Some said he died on the way to hospital while some others said that he died while receiving treatment. His health condition was not fine before his death and the judge knew about it,” the relative said.
In his reaction, the spokesman of the correctional facility in the state, Phillip Adegbulugbe, confirmed the death of the land agent, saying that he died in hospital of illness related to kidney problems.
“He was taken to General hospital, Ilorin where he died. I saw his hospital file stating the illness. He was taken to hospital on Thursday evening and reportedly died at about 8:00 am today, Friday. He didn’t die in the facility as some people were saying. I was just coming back from the hospital,” he added.