Sources in Edo Prison in Benin City, south-south Nigeria, have revealed how top prison officials carry out all sorts of illegal activities, like sharing out among themselves welfare materials donated to inmates by non-governmental organisations and religious bodies.
It was also learnt that such corrupt officials use privileged inmates to attack and brutalise those who challenge them.
The sources told SaharaReporters that some key prison officials are known for stealing welfare materials donated to the inmates by NGOs and religious bodies while the hapless suffer.
It was gathered that such an incident happened recently when the Bishop Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Benin, Bishop Augustine Akubueze and members of the diocese visited the prison popularly known as White House Correctional Centre on his annual prison visit.
“They were on hand on January 1, 2023, with lots of goodies, ranging from foodstuffs, toiletries, clothing, shoes, cartons of soap, cartons of detergent, bales of slippers, cartons of tissue papers, bags of garri, bags of rice, bags of beans, etc. to mention a few.
“Immediately the visitors left, the Chief Warder, Mr Omoruyi; Mr Augustine Alenge and Prison Chaplain, Mr David swung into action by first removing those of the warders, taking the better chunk and sharing leftovers into the various cells in the yard. Who dares to complain?” one of the sources said.
According to the sources, if any inmate challenges them, the inmate(s) will be locked up in a single cell.
“If you want to investigate, they will call the General Provost and Assistant, including the General Pastor to come and defend them. Those are their stooges they gave privileges, e.g., the General Provost is serving 10 years and an indigene who is always going out to be with his girls outside, yet, he hasn’t served two years of the entire term. He sells virtually everything in the yard – from alcohol to handsets etc.
“When his girls visit, he pays Chief Warder and he uses his inner office for conjugal visits with impunity. A lot is really going wrong here. We have written a series of petitions to the prison authority at Abuja but no action and the Chief Warden, Augustine Alenge and the 2IC keep boasting about their connections in Abuja.”
They cited an example of a case of the deaths of inmates some time ago, stressing that only in November 2022, the prison “recorded no fewer than five deaths in the yard”.
“When some of the inmates protested to know the cause of the deaths, the answer they got was that they were transferred to Auchi Prison where they could suffer.
“And because of these actions, nobody dares to challenge them whenever they are perpetuating their nefarious, dubious and diabolical acts for fear of being transferred to a more dangerous station,” one of the sources said.
The sources, therefore, advised NGOs and churches to bring cooked food for inmates if they want inmates to be direct beneficiaries, saying raw food items can also be stolen.
“If possible, they should do the sharing themselves instead of leaving the authority to do the sharing,” one of them said.
They also appealed to the Nigerian Prison authorities in Abuja and the zonal office in Benin City to intervene by sanitising the centre.
“These evil trio should be discarded and new blood should be brought in. Some of them have been in the place for the past 15 to 19 years without transfer. They say ‘Oba no dey go transfer.’ Even when they were transferred last year, they stalled it and never left. We need a new lease of life at White House Correctional Centre. The coercion of the provosts of cells to provide money for the chief must stop,” one of them said.
“Using transfer as a means of threat by Chief Warder, Mr Omoruyi and Augustine Alenge to coerce inmates must stop. A stitch in time saves nine,” the source added.
Contacted to the Public Relations Officer for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Abubakar Umar, as its officials are not allowed to talk to journalists, he said the prison authorities would investigate the allegations.
“Presently, the national headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Centre has not received such report, however, with our report and by contacting the national authority of Nigerian Prison about the report we got, they must investigate it and if it is true, all the culprits must be brought to book.
“We have an eagle eye and Comptroller General does not take it lightly with corrupt officers. Many have been removed from the service because of corrupt practices,” he said.
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