The Nigerian Prisons Service has denied beaten up a female lawmaker, Hon. Onyemeachi Mprakpor as reported in some quarters of the media.
According to a communique signed by the Prisons Public Relations Officer, DCP OF Enobore, The CG aides did not abuse Hon. Mprakpor.
It had been reported that the CG Dr. Peter Ezenwa Ekpendu and his aides pounce on the lawmaker for overtaking his convoy within the premises of the National Assembly.
Responding to the allegation, Enobore said “It is important to state that whereas it is true that the Controller-General was at the National Assembly on the invitation of a Committee to attend to some official issues with some of his staff, neither the pilot car in front of him nor his official car had any confrontation with anyone. He went there with 4 cars and not 20 as alleged.
“However, since it is alleged that the assault took place within the precinct of the National Assembly, precisely at the security post of the outer gate with hordes of security personnel from various agencies including that of the National Assembly on duty, it is advisable to establish what actually transpired from these security officers. The matter is currently being investigated by the Police.
“The Controller-General is a peace loving and law abiding citizen of Nigeria who has never been involved in any act of bravado, impunity or hooliganism and will never encourage any form of abuse on any Nigerian including the Honourable member of the National Assembly and will not tolerate any form of indiscipline on the part of his staff.”
The embattled former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who is currently serving a jail term in a UK prison, is neither released nor rearrested, a statement by the former governor’s media aide, Tony Eluemunor, said.
James Ibori
There were reports Wednesday that Mr. Ibori was released from prison and rearrested immediately.
The statement said, “The Chief James Onanefe Ibori Media Office hereby informs Ibori’s teaming supporters that the news about the release of their champion and political leader from prison is not true.
“This news had set off a frenzy of activities in the entire South-South geo-political zone, as many people took off from their respective towns and villages to storm Ibori’s home town of Oghara.
“Many kept vigil at his gate; but the vigil was in vain as Ibori has not finished serving his term.
“Perhaps as the magnitude of the lie The News on-line publication told to itself and the nation (in a story it had termed an exclusive) dawned on it, its sister publication, PM News kicked in with another lie; that Ibori had been re-arrested.
“This caused a sleepless night to another set of Ibori’s supporters as they stayed up all night working the phone to find out the true situation.
“The truth is that the exclusive stories published by The News and PM news were exclusive lies. Over 24 hours after the publications, no British authority has confirmed either the news of the release or of the purported re-arrest.
“Many people have asked me how such a malicious story could have been cocked up. My only reply is that Ibori’s political and legal persecutors tried to counter the favourable wind that arose from Ibori’s corner when the case turned against the London Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecutors by late January 2016, when even they agreed that they were corrupt in the way they investigated Ibori and his associates.
“That forced them to withdraw the obstructing the cause of justice charges they had brought against one of Ibori’s lawyers, Mr. Bradesh Gohil.
“Most importantly, the judge that day ruled that all the documents that had been withheld from Ibori and all his associates should be turned over to them and that they were free to go on appeal to challenge even their earlier convictions.
“It was this ray of hope that even Ibori’s conviction may be struck down that the media manipulators attempted to extinguish in the hearts and minds of Ibori’s supporters when they concocted their lies and passed same off as news.
”To prove that the case has turned and the hunters may be feeling the heat, respected British news media such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), The Times of London and the Guardian of London, last week announced that calls have arisen that Ibori’s and his associates’ accusations of corruption against the prosecution be investigated.
“The New Indian Express of Monday 25 January 2016 reported that “In representations to the judge, Stephen Kamlish, Gohil’s defence team accused the Crown Prosecution Service of “positively misleading the court and the parties as part of their deliberate cover-up of discloseable material”.
“In response, the Judge Tester said, “The crown has offered no evidence for one or both of the following reasons. One, that the allegations of corruption made by Mr Gohil are true, and not false. The second is that the crown has suppressed material both in this court and in other proceedings, including the trial of Ibori.
“The crown offering no evidence can only mean the crown is not prepared themselves to explain their decision, either for the abuse of the court in bad faith or for the police corruption. In those circumstance, it is our duty to our client to raise these matters and this brings into question the safety of these convictions.
“The Indian Express continued: “A Met police intelligence report seen by this paper (The Indian Express) suggests an RISC employee telephoned a police officer working on the Ibori investigation in 2007 and allegedly told him his inquiries were “on the right track”. Separate documents shown to Gohil’s defence team are said to reveal the existence of 19 cash deposits into the same officer’s bank account. The CPS had allegedly denied the existence of the documents.
“It is an incontrovertible fact that the confiscation hearing has not started at all, and remains months away into the future.
“Even today, that remains the case as nothing has changed. The confiscation hearing has not started and nobody, whether Ibori or another person, has been arrested as there is really no need to arrest anyone because of a confiscation hearing”.
The Nigeria Prisons Service has said that putting handcuffs on the National Publicity Secretary, Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh while appearing for his trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday was at the discretion of the prison officer, who supervised his court appearance.
Olisa Metuh in Court
The NPS spokesman, Francis Enobore, said the officer in charge of the escort that took Metuh to court was at liberty to determine if the inmate should be handcuffed based on security situation, the environment and intelligence report made available to him.
Enobore made the clarification following comments in the media and by PDP, that putting handcuffs on Metuh is a plot by the All Progressives congress -led to subdue the major opposition party.
Enobore, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, stated that Metuh was not maltreated in any way, stressing that handcuffing an inmate was a standard procedure, which the prison warden could employ based on the situation at hand.
He said, “Handcuffing an inmate is at the discretion of the officer in-charge, depending on the security situation, the environment and intelligence report available to the officer. Sometimes they look at the atmosphere and take the necessary decision.
“If you suspect that the atmosphere, security-wise, may not be conducive to the inmates in your custody, you can use handcuffs; to avoid a situation where you have to start telling stories, you use your discretion to study the environment and take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the inmates in your custody.
“Remember that we not only try to secure the inmate from escaping, we equally provide protection for the inmate. The officer in-charge must ensure that the life of the inmate is not jeopardised. It is the officer in-charge of the escort that studies the security environment and takes the decision to use handcuffs.”
Asked if there was intelligence that Metuh might escape or was in danger of being harmed, Enobore said he did not know because he was not at the scene.
He dismissed suggestions that the PDP spokesman was handcuffed to please the Presidency, saying there was no political consideration in the treatment of inmates by the prisons service.
Justice Abang had, on January 15, ordered the accused person to be remanded in Kuje Prison shortly after his arraignment on seven counts of money laundering preferred against him by the EFCC.
The EFCC alleged in the charges that Metuh, who was arraigned along with a firm, Destra Investments Ltd, received N400m, part of the money meant for the procurement of arms, from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014.
The EFCC alleged in the case, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/05/2016, that Metuh and Destra, through their account with Diamond Bank Plc, collected the sum of N400m from the NSA office on November 22, 2015, for PDP’s campaign activities.
The prosecution also alleged that the N400m was “part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity” of the immediate past NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
It alleged that Metuh and Destra transferred the sum of N21.8m to Anenih and they (Metuh and Destra) thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended in 2012) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
The judge ordered on Tuesday that Metuh should not be released from custody until he met the bail conditions.
But in granting him bail on Tuesday, the judge dismissed EFCC’s objection to the application, ruling that the allegation that Metuh destroyed his statement and attempted to influence potential witnesses while in the custody of the anti-graft agency, was not substantiated.
Justice Abang added, “The truth of this allegation has not been established. The prosecution said that he, the first defendant, if granted bail, will try to influence potential witnesses.
“In my humble view, this is speculative. The court of law cannot act on speculation.
“The alleged conduct of the first defendant while in custody of the EFCC cannot be used as a factor or taken into consideration in refusing the bail to the first defendant.”
He said the offences that Metuh was accused of were bailable and that the accused still enjoyed constitutional right to being presumed innocent until proved guilty.
Metuh was arrested by the EFCC on January 5 and remained in the custody of the anti-graft agency till when he was arraigned on January 15.
The judge however dismissed the second prayer contained in Metuh’s bail application seeking an order restraining the EFCC from re-arresting him after being granted bail.
Metuh’s separate fundamental human rights enforcement suit is scheduled to come up for hearing before Justice Abang on Wednesday (today).
Eight awaiting trial inmates have regained their freedom from the Oko Medium Security Prison in Benin, Edo State.
The inmates were released on Wednesday during the visit of the Edo State Administration of Justice Committee.
Those released by the committee headed by the State Chief Judge, Justice Cromwell Idahosa, include Isaiah Michael, who was remanded for alleged armed robbery since January 10, 2009, and Mohammed Buba, having spent five years and five months in prison custody.
Also included were Christian Ikekiaye and Festus Abukari, who had spent three years and eight months and four years and two months in prison custody for alleged armed robbery, respectively.
Others were Otamere Iyase, Ali Bello, Abubakar Ali and Ajauro Unuahro, who had spent a year and six months and was said to have no case to answer.
One of the freed inmates, Buba, told the committee that he was arrested while selling onions at the New Benin for alleged conspiracy and armed robbery and had been remanded in prison custody since April 20, 2010.
The father of two, who hails from Bornu State, however, expressed gratitude to the state government for granting him freedom and said that he hoped to return to his family in the North-East.
Earlier, Cromwell decried what he described as “bloated prison cells” which created numerous challenges in the administration of justice in the state.
He noted that the prolonged nationwide strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria contributed to the delay in the judicial system.
He also said with the number of persons on the awaiting trial list pegged at 39,577 nationwide, most prisons had become overpopulated and starved of adequate health care, sanitation and recreational facilities.
He, however, expressed hope that the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which was signed into law in May, would address many of the challenges faced by the judiciary.
He also disclosed that the new law was already being worked on by the state Ministry of Justice, in order to domesticate it in Edo.
KANO – Fresh from a week long incarceration, former Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Sule Lamido Wednesday declared that he bears no grudge against anyone over his prison experience.
Lamido who made a triumphant entry into Kano on a chattered aircraft 5N—LDM was welcome by thousands of his supporters who scaled the perimeter fence of theVIP section of Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.
The self style Talakawa apostle whose chattered flight touched ground by 1.26pm in company of his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, relatives and retinue of aides walked into a chaotic reception by supporters that turned the security area into a carnival.
Chants of ‘Sai Lamido’ Sai Lamido, Sai PDP’ charged the serene atmosphere for half an hour before the 69-year old Jigawa born politician sneaked into a waiting SUV on a journey to his NNDC palatial residence in company of over 2,000 cars.
Briefing newsmen in his home, Lamido said that he was a veteran of incarceration, pointing out that there was nothing new in it.
“I’m not new to detention facility, it’s all part of the struggle for life. If the purpose is to humiliate, deconstruct me and my family, well that is thehazard of occupying a high office”.
The two-term former Governor while admitting that human institutions are not perfect, however stated that his prison experience exposed his other side.
Sule Lamido said that “it is difficult to share my prison experience with anyone because it’s not like hunger or something tangible. You have to be in there to feel what I went through with my children”.
Lamido stressed that ” yes, people hate me because of I am outspoken, I want to make it clear that Nigeria remains my country, there is no way I can run away to another country and even at that,where do I go?”
The former Governor expressed his gratitude to the judiciary to have recognised his personality as he stressed that the gesture has restored confidence in the polity.
He however declared his readiness to clear his name of financial impropriety during the trial proper, adding that he was confident to walk out of it unscathed.
Following the relocation of Boko Haram detainees to the Ekwulobia Prisons in Anambra State, the military have taken over the security of the facility.
Boko haram in Borno
SUNDAY PUNCH investigations showed that security operations in the Federal Government facility are no longer the exclusive preserve of the officials of the Nigeria Prison Service.
The development, sources told our correspondent, is not unconnected with the calibre of the detainees being held behind the walls of the facility.
A visit by our correspondent to the prison on Saturday showed that armed military personnel were located in strategic locations around the prison.
The development has also brought some form of hardship to residents of the host communities of the prison.
Free human and vehicular movement is no longer allowed around the place. Our correspondent sighted soldiers compelling passers-by to raise up their arms and get frisked before they were allowed passage. Vehicles were also searched.
Residents of Anambra had last week taken to the streets protesting against the relocation of the detainees. But the Federal Government had reacted saying it was a mere rumour.
But happenings around the facility on Friday further learnt credence to the report that the Boko Haram detainees had been relocated to the quiet Anambra town.
“It is like a war situation. We no longer move freely; we don’t even talk freely because you don’t know who is who now. Armoured vehicles are everywhere” Stanley Ezechukwu, a primary school teacher in the area told our correspondent.
One of the soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “We are here to ensure that the prison is not attacked by the people who have demonstrated their resentment over the transfer of the detainees.”
Professor Chuwuemeka Ike, the traditional Ruler of Ndikerionwu, a neighboring community to Ekwulobia , condemned the transfer of the detainees to the area.
He acknowledged, however that prisons transfers are normal, but maintained that with the sensitive nature of the prisoners, the transfer of the Boko Haram detainee could have been avoided.
A press statement on Saturday by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Media, Mr James Eze, was not specific on whether the detainees had been relocated or not.
The statement titled; “The Transfer of Boko Haram Detainees to Ekwulobia Prisons: the true position,” maintained that the governor had not made any official press statement on the issue as reported in some national dailies.
The statement read in parts, “We wish to inform the general public that Governor Obiano never made any comments to these publications. Since the eruption of this controversy, Governor Obiano’s position has been consistent. This was fully reflected in the two press Statements issued on Sunday, June 28, 2015 and Wednesday July 1, 2015. In both statements, his message was simple – he re-assured Ndi Anambra that he was on top of the situation and that he was speaking with the relevant authorities to achieve a peaceful resolution of the issue. Governor Obiano’s commitment to this extremely sensitive issue remains the same.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Uche Eze in his reaction said the police would not want to comment on the matter as “it is purely an affair of the Nigerian Prisons Service.”
The member representing the area in the House of Representatives, Mrs. Eucharia Azodo however urged the Federal Government to rescind the decision in view of its security implications on the people of her constituency.
In a statement in Awka on Saturday, Azodo said the Boko Haram detainees would be better taken care of in a maximum security prison, arguing that Ekwulobia Prison did not have the capacity to accommodate such high risk prisoners.
She said, “The rising tension following rumours that Boko Haram suspects were relocated from some Northern prisons to the South-East, precisely, Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government of Anambra State, gives me great concern.
“We all are aware of the fact that Ekwulobia Prison in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State is not a maximum security prison.
“Whereas a large number of prisoners, about 134 inmates, are there already in a prison built to accommodate 85 inmates, a total number of 47 Boko Haram prisoners were brought to Ekwulobia Prison in the dead of the night of Sunday, June 28, 2015 amidst tight security.”
The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio- cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has flayed the Federal Government over the relocation.
The National President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro who spoke with our correspondent in Umuahia, described the action as “ exportation of terrorism to the peaceful South-East region.”
Officers of the Nigerian Prison Services on Wednesday caught two sisters, Shade Oyetobi and Atinuke Adebanwo, who attempted to smuggle 11 wraps of Marijuana into the Ikeja Lagos State High Court holding cell for awaiting trial inmates.
Marijuana
Our correspondent gathered that the culprits, who claimed to be orphans, brought in the contraband substance for their brother, Babatunde Oyetobi, an awaiting trial inmate.
According to them, Babatunde, who was arrested in a street fight, had been in prison for about two years.
The two sisters, who were handcuffed together by the officers, said they had contributed money to hire a lawyer for their brother, adding that they had been coming to court regularly to stand by him since his trial started.
Twenty-four-year-old Shade, who said she was a hairdresser, confessed that the Marijuana wraps were handed over to her by one, Jamiu, a friend to Babatunde.
She said, “Actually, it was my brother’s friend, Jamiu, who sells watches, that gave the stuff to me this morning to give to my brother.
“Actually, Jamiu and I have not been on talking terms for some time, since we had a disagreement over one watch, but he had collected my phone number from my friend this morning and called me.
“I don’t know where they sell Marijuana, I don’t know how much they sell it and I don’t smoke,” Shade said.
Adebanwo, married with three children, said she was not privy to the arrangement.
Crying profusely, the 32-year-old lamented that her sister had put her in trouble.
Facing her sister, Adebanwo said, “Oh my God, I don’t know that it’s a crime to have the two of you as my siblings. Is it a crime to stand by you after the death of our parents?
“I don’t know anything about this whole thing. Please ask her; I am even sick, I was supposed to go for my treatment this morning.”
Speaking to our correspondent, the officer, Mr. A. R. Muhammed, who arrested the sisters, said the Marijuana wraps were hid inside a black nylon bag and concealed beneath a pair of slippers.
Muhammad said, “We demanded to know their mission as they were coming in and they told us they wanted to see their brother; then we asked to see what was in the black poly bag but they said it was a pair of slippers, then when we demanded to see the slippers, the younger sister became guarded.
“At that point, we ordered them to walk out if they were not willing to show us the slippers; but we became suspicious when they chose to walk out without seeing their brother rather than show us what was in the nylon bag. That was why we moved in and forced them, only to discover that they were trying to smuggle Marijuana into the cell.”
The two sister were subsequently handed over to the Area F Police Command in Ikeja.
Abeokuta - Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun on Thursday broke into tears at the pitiable sight of inmates at Oba prison in Abeokuta.
Amosun, who had earlier granted amnesty to 15 inmates at Ibara prison also in Abeokuta, could not hold back his emotions at Oba prison over what he described as the “inhuman condition” to which the inmates were subjected.
The governor was informed that majority of the 492 inmates on awaiting trial list at the prison had spent between four and seven years in jail.
He ordered immediate medical attention for the inmates with critical medical conditions and directed that others should be taken to the hospital.
While conceding that prison services was under the control of the Federal Government, Amosun said it would be irresponsible of any leader to neglect the conditions of prison inmates.
He expressed dismay at the deplorable state of prisons saying it would not enhance rehabilitation of inmates.
“I have come to share today with them and see if I can commit death sentences passed on some of them to life imprisonment based on the recommendations from relevant quarters.
“I think it is a big shame and I feel so ashamed really that I am a governor in this kind of condition that I have seen.
“It is clear that these people are traumatised and dehumanised under this very appalling condition.
“The condition here is like sending someone to an early grave,” he said and promised to pay regular visits to prisons. (NAN)
