SAHARA REPORTERS
The government has suspended a Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) officer assigned to the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, Ogbule Samuel Obinna.
This followed an exclusive report by SaharaReporters on how officials of the prison illegally took an inmate out of the facility to see his girlfriend for a conjugal visit.
According to the report, the inmate identified as Ibuchi Okoro Eze was sentenced to prison after he was convicted of rape.
He was taken out of the facility on Saturday, September 14 to a bar managed by his girlfriend.
A picture of Ibuchi’s sitting at his lover’s bar where he was taken to was also obtained by SaharaReporters.
“A rapist inmate that still has more than a year in here was taken outside the prison to meet his girlfriend for conjugal visit,” a source had told SaharaReporters.
“It happened on September 14 outside the yard. His name is Ibuchi and the bar is also here in Afikpo. This wasn’t the first time something like this would happen, that inmates would be allowed to go out of the facility illegally. Some even go to clubs and spend the night out of the facility.
“Only Afikpo people who were recruited and have stayed in this facility all their lives are allowed to do this dirty work with them, so that their secret will not be revealed.
“There are warders who collect money from these inmates to allow them to leave the facility anytime they want.
“For Ibuchi, after paying them that day, they forced some junior officers to take him outside the facility to meet his girlfriend. She has a bar she’s managing not too far from the prison.
“When they got there, he told them he wanted to have sex with the lady and that he should be allowed to see her privately in a room. One of the personnel kicked against it but Ibuchi called a superior officer who said he should be allowed but warned the officers to be at alert and ensure his return to prison.”
In response to the allegation, the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board, in a statement signed by Ja’afaru Ahmed on Thursday, announced the suspension of an officer assigned to the Ebonyi prison facility.
“The Board has taken the step of suspending ASC II Ogbule Samuel Obinna, who was assigned to the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Afikpo, Ebonyi State,” part of the statement read.
“This decision comes in response to allegations that he accompanied a convicted inmate to a location outside of the Custodial Centre.”
The board also announced the suspension of Michael Anugwa, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), in charge of the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Kirikiri, Lagos State, and Sikiru Adekunle, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), in charge of the Maximum Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Kirikiri, Lagos State over allegations of bribery linked to controversial crossdresser Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky.
A blogger, Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, had alleged in viral videos that some officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) collected ₦15 million from Bobrisky for the anti-graft agency to drop money laundering charges against him following his naira abuse case in April after which a court sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment.
The blogger also alleged that Bobrisky paid some millions of naira to secure a choice place in prison.
Bobrisky has since denied the allegations while the EFCC and the NCoS had ordered investigations into the allegations by the blogger.
