At least two senior officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service from the Kirikiri Medium Custodial Centre in Lagos have been suspended following a bribery scandal linked to social media personality Idris Okuneye, commonly known as Bobrisky.
The suspension was announced on Thursday evening by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board in a statement shared with our correspondent.
The officers were suspended after a voice note from Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, surfaced. In the recording, Otse alleges that after Bobrisky’s conviction in April for abusing naira notes, his godfather and the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service arranged for him to serve his six-month sentence in a private apartment.
According to Punch Metro, the suspended officers include Anugwa, the Deputy Controller of Corrections at the Kirikiri Medium Security Custodial Centre, and Sikiru Adekunle, the Deputy Controller of the Maximum-Security Custodial Centre at Kirikiri.
The incriminating voice note claims that Bobrisky allegedly paid unnamed officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ₦15,000,000 to have money laundering charges against him dropped. He had been accused of laundering ₦127,780,877.98 between September 2021 and April 2024 through his company’s Eco Bank account.
Though the charges were reportedly dropped following an agreement with the EFCC, public outcry has grown, prompting the Board to investigate the involvement of correctional officers.
Further investigations will assess the extent of the officers’ alleged involvement, and the Board has emphasized its commitment to ensuring accountability and transparency within the nation’s correctional services.
Additionally, the Board announced the suspension of ASC II Ogbule Samuel Obinna, serving at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, for allegedly escorting a convicted inmate outside the facility without authorization. Iloafonsi Kevin Ikechukwu, Deputy Controller in charge of the Kuje Maximum Security Custodial Centre
