A legal practitioner, Bala Dakum, has asked the Nigerian Correctional Service to investigate its officers at the Kuje Correctional Centre over alleged extortion of inmates and gross misconduct.
Mr Dakum, in a petition dated February 11 and addressed to the comptroller-general of NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche, also urged the service to sanction erring officers.
“I am a solicitor to over 100 inmates in Kuje Correction Centre, Abuja. In my capacity as a legal practitioner and concerned stakeholder in the administration of the justice system, I hereby petition you.
“It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I write, on behalf of my clients, to formally bring to your attention a series of grave allegations bordering on abuse of office, corruption and gross misconduct against the Controller in charge of the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja (name withheld), and his aides.
“The inmates, their families, and other credible sources have repeatedly alleged that the officer has used his position to facilitate a systematic extortion of inmates through his aides (names withheld). These acts reportedly include, but are not limited to, demands for unlawful payments in exchange for access to basic rights and privileges such as medical attention, movement within the facility, humane treatment and other services that inmates are legally entitled to without inducement,” the lawyer wrote in his petition to AGF Lateef Fagbemi and interior minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Mr Dakum, the principal partner of B.I. Dakum & Co law firm alleged that these acts are carried out with the knowledge, consent or tacit approval of the officer, thereby creating an environment of fear, exploitation and injustice within the facility.
Mr Dakum, therefore, demanded that “an independent and thorough investigation be instituted immediately into the allegations of extortion, abuse of office, and misconduct against the officers (subject their accounts to forensic investigations)”.
The prison authorities have been contacted for a comment.
(NAN)
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