CONDEMNED TO DIE, DESTINED TO LIVE!
CONDEMNED TO DIE, DESTINED TO LIVE!
ONE by one they led them out. Faces covered in black. Handcuffed. Their last seconds of life. Last moments of reflection. The last breath of this world. No time to even say goodbye. One by one their names were called. The other five had already gone – gone for ever – gone to the gallows. A cold sweat broke out on his brow. He was next in line. This was it. The end. The grand finale. The next few seconds would be the last he would ever spend in life.
The tale of Chuks Olisemeka is block-buster material. It could well pass for a best-selling fiction thriller. But this is no fiction. It’s the real story of a young man who came from condemnation to salvation, in both the literal and spiritual sense. The story of a man who came face to face with death in a way few people could ever imagine. The story of redemption amidst retribution.
From a humble home in Delta to wild parties in Lagos, dangerous dealings in cannabis in Tunisia and gun-training for armed robbery in the Saharan desert, from a condemned cell in Tunis’ maximum security prison to a Nigerian church he had never heard of before, here is Chuks’ incredible journey, in his own words:
“My name is Chuks Olisemeka and I come from Delta State. When my mother was pregnant with me, she separated from my father. Later in 1991, my mother died of sickness. From there my grandmother took care of me. I never knew my father and hardly knew my mum, Mrs Josephine. In the year 2000 after finishing secondary school, I came to Lagos. I didn’t know anybody in Lagos. What made me come is that some friends came from Lagos every December with flashy flashy things, spending money. When I asked them, they said they went to Victoria Island. One day I just decided by myself to come to Lagos, though I didn’t know anyone there and had no money. I was only 20. Some people dropped me in Ojota. At that time I still smoked so I bought a cigar and began smoking. I saw one guy like me who now bought a cigarette. We got talking and he now asked me some questions. When I introduced myself to him, the guy said he would help me for accommodation. We bought Indian hemp together and he then took me to his house.
“Every night we went to the clubs and enjoyed ourselves. I was helping in his brother’s electronics business in Alaba. One day we met some guys who came from Tunisia. Those guys gave us the guidelines about Tunisia that time, but we never said we wanted to travel as we were enjoying in Lagos. Some months later, my close friend Chima suggested we both go to Tunisia and I agreed. We went by road through the desert. We entered from Libya, through Tripoli. Those guys we met gave us the address of their place in Tunisia. We met some guys there and a Nigerian guy now introduced us to one man who was dealing in drugs. He had some boys working for him. Every night he would give you 200 or 300 grams and you would go to the club and hawk drugs. Cocaine. At the end of the day he would give you 0. From there he introduced us to the business. We were moving with guys who were into it before and from there we got our own customers.
“After about eight months in the business, I met Jack, an Italian man. Every time the man would normally come to me and buy drugs; he would buy in quantity. He was a big man, and always came with his boys. My friend called me and said let us travel to Morocco and from there to Spain. But already that Jack said he would introduce me to his business, so I was not interested in going to Spain. After about two weeks, Jack introduced me to his business – robbery business.
“I didn’t know how to shoot a gun, so every morning he took me to the desert with some guys and taught me how to use a gun. We started going on operations. We go with information. Some people will come from Europe and land in Tunisia, and stay in a hotel – so the manager of the hotel would give us information, and we would go there and rob. After robbing, he would give me 00. It was not only in Tunisia we robbed, but also in Libya – because they share a border together. We were based in Tunis. On one operation in a company, we got 0,000 – so Jack now gave me ,000. I know tomorrow I would see more money, so I would go to the clubs, gamble, buy expensive wears and move with high-class babes. Then something happened in 2004.
“This hotel manager now brought information that one woman came from Holland who brought big money for a contract, and the woman lodged in his hotel. Our boss called us and said we should go to this hotel. We reached there around 10am. We were five – four boys and one Algerian girl. We met the woman and collected the money. Two of our members were down and three went up – it was a five storey building. On the way down, we just heard guns from nowhere. Two of our members were shot. They died there instantly. They now shot the girl, but we didn’t know the place where the bullets