Minister inaugurates five-member probe panel over bribery allegations

Nigeria’s Federal Government has inaugurated an independent investigative panel to investigate allegations of corruption and gross violations of standard operating procedures within the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS).

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Minister of Interior, inaugurated the committee on Monday in Abuja.

He said the committee must also look at the recent allegation that some correctional service personnel had provided an alternative accommodation for convicted cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, who’s well known as Bobrisky.

According to the minister, the panel became necessary to sanitize the Service towards attaining transparency and accountability.

The Minister, who is also the Chairman of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board, CDCFIB, had suspended several officers overseeing the Maximum and Minimum Custodial Centres in Kirikiri, Lagos State, following allegations of misconduct involving Bobrisky.

He noted the need for a holistic approach to unravel the issues being investigated, through empirical and fact-finding processes that will proffer lasting solutions to the challenges.

“We want to reform the correctional service. Your core responsibility is to investigate specific allegations of corruption, torture, and mistreatment of inmates by correctional officers, especially the immediate one on Bobrisky which I expect to be out in two weeks,” he said.

The Minister charged the committee, which is headed by Dr Magdalene Ajani, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, to uphold justice without fear or favour to any party.

The minister said: “We will rely on your legal guidance to be sure that whatever we do is in line with the law of the land.

“We will rely on you to be able to come up with a way forward, as well as facts that would be made public to Nigerians.

“I want to say this very clearly, nobody will be shielded. Nobody, no matter how highly placed, will be shielded.”

While proposing medium and long-term solutions to prevent future occurrences, the minister further charged the committee to identify systemic issues contributing to violations within the service and recommend concrete actions for immediate redress and policy reforms.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, who is also the Chairperson of the Investigation Panel, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, stated that the committee would do their best to deliver on the mandate.

The committee comprises Omotese Eva (Mrs.), Director Legal; Nasir Usman, Director, Joint Services; Dr. Uju Agomoh, President, Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, PRAWA, who is a former Board Member of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA); and Dr. Ikechukwu Ezeugo, Human Rights Radio consultant, a Forensic Researcher and Social Impact Expert with over 27 years experience in corporate leadership.