Blessing Okoro popularly known as Blessing CEO who brands herself as relationship expert and based in Lagos was arrested yesterday by officers of the Nigeria police force over a petition against her by a person who claimed she cyber-bullied her. She was immediately arraigned in a Lagos magistrate court.
The magistrate remanded her in prison for two months pending the hearing of the substantive case.
This article xrays the conditions she’s to find herself in the prison world. This writer wrote out of experience. In the prison, once she’s brought in, she is given the prison’s attire with her face captured and documented as is the norm. She’s taken to the female’s apartments which are at a distant location from the ones of the males.
Now inside the block she’s assigned to, the already admitted inmates welcome her with a mixed embrace. If she’s remanded in a VIP cell or the general one, she’s booked by someone who’ll be hosting her and telling her what to or not to do or say. The VIP cell is a very clean cell in prison with basic amenities inside it. It’s assigned to public figures who can afford the bills.
Two to three days, the cell’s president calls her out for questioning and official welcome. She’s asked some questions which aren’t anything far from her background, what brought her into prison, her perception of the conventional society and her experience so far in detention. After that, she will be commanded to sing for the inmates and entertain them in her own way. That can be after she must have presented her welcome items and dues in cash to the inmates and upon acceptance or rejection. After the session which takes up to an hour, she’s allowed to get back to her quarter.
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In the cell, it’s either she feeds from the kitchen of the prison or she has someone bringing in food for her from the outside. The food served in the prison by warders isn’t anything to write home about. It’s infested with kwashiokor. Only inmates who are destitute can eat the food. On admission, she submits all her non clothing materials she came in with to the welfare office of the prison including her phone(s). Anytime she wants to make phone calls, which must be once in a day, she goes to the welfare office and seeks permission to do that. She must make the call where the warders can hear what she’s saying. The reason for this is to monitor her communication and know the nature of what she’s reaching out to the people of the outside world for.
She may not be subjected to tough experiences as a woman, this is because, women’s cells are not always overcrowded like the ones of men. The bullying experienced by men may not apply to women as they are not allowed for any reason to communicate with men. It’s a world that women’s paths are marked off from men’s. Any woman or man found exchanging pleasantries in the prison with opposite gender unless it’s their husband or wife or other family members who came to visit them is sanctioned severely. Such a person is locked up in a single cell, or subjected to a punishment within the prison environment to serve as deterrent to others. She’s marked off from communicating with fellow inmates for a week or days not exceeding one week. Blessing CEO is to be in prison for 60 days as ordered by the magistrate. The only day she will see the outside world is the 30th of May, 2023 when her bail application will be heard. She may not regain her freedom that day as the day of hearing bail application is not always the same day to grant or deny same. It might take up to a week before the next appearance in court. If such a case is a bailable one, her bail will be granted, but she’ll be coming to court for further actions on the case.
Blessing CEO is a controversial relationship analyst who came to fame under same circumstance. Her pictures trended a few days past on social media with heavy condemnation by netizens. She appeared in a dressing that exposed her body to the world in such a manner it called for lust and amoral attractions. She’s a 33 year old divorced mother. She operates a relationship guidance outfit in Lagos which has made her a millionaire in her own standing. Many hold the view of her as not having the moral ground to teach about marriage since she couldn’t sustain one for herself. They argue that her mode of dressing and communication is wayward and a pointer to the fact that she’s a spoilt child who can’t guide young and single people into successful marital homes.