Gospel Kinani, described as an Ogoni man from Rivers State, has been freed after spending years behind bars with no legal basis for his imprisonment, in a case that has drawn fresh attention to gaps in Nigeria's justice system. His ordeal began in 2007, when he mysteriously vanished after leaving his home.
After he disappeared, his parents sold their properties to fund a frantic search for their only child. They ultimately died of heartbreak, having concluded that he was dead and that they would never see him again.
In reality, Gospel had been locked away behind bars all that time. He was held without a case file, without official charges, and without any record of an offence having been formally established against him.
A check of correction-facility records showed that he had been brought in on June 9, 2010, on an awaiting-trial warrant for armed robbery. However, there was no substantive case and no plaintiff on file to justify keeping him in custody year after year.
In July 2025, the Haven 360 Foundation came across him during an outreach program at the facility. By then he was found to be severely mentally affected by the long-term incarceration he had endured, with fellow inmates among those who urged the visitors to look into his situation.
Through a jail-delivery session, the Rivers State Chief Judge formally discharged and freed him, on the grounds that no legal basis existed for his imprisonment after almost 15 years in custody. The decision closed a detention that had stretched across the better part of two decades since he first went missing.
Gospel has since been reunited with his surviving older brother, but he requires ongoing medical and psychological care to help him cope with the trauma of his stolen youth. The case was brought to light by the Haven 360 Foundation, which says its mandate is to provide free legal representation for people who have been unjustly imprisoned.