In the ever-busy streets of FESTAC Town, Lagos, where the smell of jollof rice and goat pepper soup fills the air, a heart-wrenching story of poverty, power, and prison is quietly simmering in the background.
At the center of it is David Cosmos, a soft-spoken cook from a poor village in Akwa Ibom, who has now spent over 13 months in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison—not for robbery, not for violence, but for allegedly cooking a food order his boss later claimed was unauthorized.
To many, this might sound like a misunderstanding that should have been resolved in the back office of a restaurant. But for David, it became a one-way ticket to one of Nigeria’s harshest prisons.
“They said he cooked a meal that wasn’t ordered, but that’s a lie,” said Godswill Isaac, David’s cousin, his voice quivering with frustration. “I worked at the same restaurant before. Orders are displayed on a screen. You cannot just cook food without an order.”
David had worked diligently for over four years at Native Food Limited, a Lagos-based eatery run by Mr. Robert Ukoand his son, who manages the restaurant. According to Godswill, trouble started in May 2024, when David was accused of cooking and selling food without authorization and allegedly pocketing the money.
But accounts from former colleagues tell a different story.
“The staff told me someone had ordered the food and delayed in picking it up,” Godswill explained. “When the CEO came and asked who the food belonged to, they told him the person hadn’t shown up yet. Instead of resolving it calmly, the manager—his own son—started punching David and calling him a thief.”
The confrontation quickly escalated into allegations far beyond one meal. According to David’s family, the management accused him of being responsible for every missing item in the company’s records. They then slapped a ₦1.5 million billon him, claiming he had to repay the “losses.”
Unable to pay or defend himself in the absence of legal aid, David was thrown into detention, where he remains to this day.
“He’s been in prison for over a year,” Godswill said, his voice low. “His parents are poor farmers in the village. They don’t even know the full details. They can’t raise money to come to Lagos, let alone pay a lawyer.”
The family’s attempts to contact Mr. Uko have been fruitless. He no longer takes their calls, and messages go unanswered. Meanwhile, David remains locked away, forgotten by a system that should be investigating and mediating—not crushing the voiceless.
“I’ve begged, I’ve called, nothing. This is not justice,” Godswill added. “Even if there was a misunderstanding, why must the punishment be so cruel? Why jail someone over food that wasn’t even sold?”
David’s story echoes the everyday struggles of low-income Nigerians who fall into legal traps they can’t escape. With no resources, no lawyer, and no voice, David Cosmos is just another name behind the bars of Kirikiri—one of many serving time not because of guilt, but because of poverty and silence.
His family is calling on human rights organisations, legal aid advocates, and the public to help them raise funds, secure his bail, and ultimately give David a chance to tell his own side of the story in court.