Deborah Akinyosoye
The Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS (formerly Nigeria Prisons Service) has dismissed an officer, ASC Efe Onakpoya for taking snapshots of an inmate within the premises of the Barracks of the Medium Security Custodial Centre MSCC Afikpo in Ebonyi state and uploading it on the internet.
Spokesman of the Service, Abubakar Umar in a statement dismissed reports alleging that the personnel had taken an inmate out of the custodial centre for conjugal intimacy with his lover in Afikpo but was pardoned by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Board CDCFIB, while the whistleblower was dismissed.
“The Service wishes to categorically state that this report is misleading and intended to tarnish the image of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“The facts of the matter is that the officer in question was dismissed after a thorough investigation by the disciplinary unit of the Service and was found to have committed an act unbecoming of a public officer, specifically for taking unauthorized pictures of an inmate by name Ibuchi Okoro Eze, within the premises of the Barracks of the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Afikpo, and uploading same on the internet.
“The dismissed officer ASC 1 Efe Onakpoya with Service number 57790 also made malicious allegations against the service, including the false claim that an inmate was taken out of the Custodial Centre for conjugal intimacy with his lover”, said Umar.
According to him, the Nigerian Correctional Service is committed to maintaining the highest standards of discipline, integrity, and professionalism, adding that the Service will not tolerate any behaviour that undermines these values.