This was written by Barrister Chukwudi Iwuchukwu,
On November 18, 1992, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Customs Service arrested Musa, Jack Spencer, for conspiring to import in excess of one kilogram of heroin. Jack Musa Gowon, who was 23 years old at that time was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the allegation of smuggling heroin from source countries.
Jack Musa Gowon protested vehemently through his legal team that he was innocent and was framed up and his protest were ignored by the Jury and was harshly sentenced to 324 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.Musa timely appealed, challenging the admission into evidence of the Hotel Guide, the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, and the district court’s upward adjustment of his base offense level on the basis that he was an organizer or leader in the conspiracy
When the appeal to quash his conviction failed, Musa took that decision in his stride believing set back like this is not end of his lifeAs an inmate of Taft Correctional Facility, Musa Jack Gowon was a role model and a legal adviser to all the inmatesHe was well behaved and a source of inspiration to co- inmates who have given up on life
The prison warden loved and worshiped the ground he tread onPermit me to mention that Musa enrolled in one of the universities around and successfully graduated with a degree in Law as a prison inmate
This commendable act of Leadership did not go unnoticed and he was rewarded severally by prison authorities
While all these were going on, Musa’s family has never stopped fighting to get him out of prison and calls for his release began to grow louderHappy to report that President Obama heard the calls for Musa’s release and acted in that regard by granting him a paroleMusa walked out of Taft Correctional Facility Bakersfield California as a free man on November 2nd and he is currently at ICE Detention Center Bakersfield CA where he will be deported back to Nigeria any moment from now
Musa Jack Ngonaadi is grateful to his Dad, General Yakubu Gowon, his friends and his relatives from his maternal side who stood by him and supported him also all through the period of his unjust incarceration that he did not commit the crime he was wrongly accused ofMusa will narrate his own side of the story very soon and he is grateful to God who kept him alive and well to see this day
This article was written by Barrister Chukwudi Iwuchukwu, Principal founder of Visage Media . A PR company based in In Lagos
