A 30-year-old tailor, Musa Ahmad, has revealed that he turned to petty theft after losing his tailoring shop to a demolition exercise by the Bauchi State Government last year.

The state government had issued notices to illegal shop owners and structures on major roads across the state, which were subsequently demolished earlier this year.

Musa, who was among 13 inmates freed from the Bauchi Correctional Centre yesterday, explained that he was arrested by the police for stealing and sentenced to six months in jail.

“I am a resident of Kofar Gombe. I’m a tailor, but since the government demolished our shops, we are left with nothing. Feeding has been so difficult for us. But I thank God for everything. I don’t wish to go back there again. I thank the man who paid for my fine,” Musa said.

A Nigerian based abroad, Uchechukwu Emmanuel Obioha, popularly known as “Papiwater_DXB”, paid N1 million to offset the fines of the 13 inmates to mark his birthday on May 20.

Obioha’s friend, Taye Abdullahi, who coordinated the release, disclosed that plans are underway to enrol the former convicts in various skills acquisition programmes, including shoemaking, carpentry, and plumbing.

Another freed inmate, Nasiru Abubakar, expressed gratitude after serving six months for his involvement in an incident where a group of youths attacked a Suya meat seller in Bauchi metropolis. “Some of my friends had stolen roasted meat and gave me a portion worth about N100. I was eating when the police arrested me while others fled,” he recounted.

Similarly, Hassan Umar was arrested on Sabon Gari Road, Bauchi metropolis, at midnight while heading home from his mechanic workshop. “We were taken to the police station, and they asked us to pay N5,000, but I couldn’t afford it. We were charged to court and sentenced to six months in jail before this man paid our fines,” Umar said.