Nigeria’s Exotic Prisoners, by Ike Willie-Nwobu

It has taken only a phone recording released in the heat of an extralegal debt recovery for Nigerians to confirm what they had long suspected: that the dilapidated and squalid correctional facilities in the country are reserved only for the poor and politically incorrect, never for the politically connected.

Between Idris Okuneye (Bobrisky), Martins Vincent Otse(Very Darkman) and an unamed but clearly aggrieved creditor, it has emerged that Bobrisky’s six-month jail term for Naira abuse, repeatedly served in Kirikiri Correctional facility in Lagos was rather a vacation spent in a cozy apartment.

The damning revelations which have prompted the Minister of Interior to wield the ax on some officials confirm two things. First is that corruption affects every aspect of life in Nigeria and secondly, there is nothing political connections cannot influence in the country.

From where does Nigeria begin to clean the Augean stables. The conditions of Nigerian prisons is a well-known fact. The name change from prison to correctional facility affected in was only a minor blip in the blizzard of squalor and sleaze affecting Nigerian prisons.

Hygiene is poor in many of the prisons as is feeding. Rehabilitation is almost impossible, as many of the inmates leave the prisons worse than when they entered.
Many of the prisons remain insecure and dilapidated. In April 2024,when the skies let loose in Suleja,Niger State, parts of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, collapsed unleashing dozens of dangerous criminals into the society.

In June 2022 terrorists stormed the minimum security prison in June, releasing some high-profile terrorists into the society. As a result of poor security, there have been other prison break around prisons in the country. In some instances where there has been no break, nature has wreaked havoc on poorly maintained structures, thereby greatly compromising the security of Nigerians in their communities.

The Nigerian correctional service is a key part of Nigeria’s criminal justice system. It is a penal set-up meant to ensure that those convicted of grave violations of the law are temporarily separated from the society and provided the opportunity to be sufficiently reformed and rehabilitated before they are reintroduced and reintegrated into the society. Historically, the objective of correctional service has always been noble, it is in how these objectives are implemented that has always posed very seriously challenges from which it is clear that Nigeria’s overcrowded prisons leave very little room for meaning reforms.

Over the years, Nigeria has grappled with the tragedy of awaiting trial inmates who end up spending more years than they would even if they are convicted of the crimes they are accused of.

Public officers in Nigeria like to boast that obedience to the rule of law is paramount. However, experience shows that the reverse is the case. It is common knowledge that many powerful people in Nigeria break the law at will, then deploy all their resources to prevent accountability for their infractions. That appears to be what Bobrisky did in spending his jail term in an apartment rather than in a correctional service. This he did not doubt by compromising some prison officers.

Given what has so far spilled into the public space, there is not telling the corners cut inside Nigerian prisons or in other state agencies. From the escapades of Bobrisky who called in favours to ensure that he was stationed far away from the squalor of the prison, it can be deduced that many other high-profile Nigerians who had cause to do time either did not do their time at all or were quartered in some expensively appointed accommodations while Nigerians and the courts which sentenced them thought they were doing time.

It appears that there is no end in sight to the rot seeping into various institutions of the Nigerian state. As long as this is the case, transparency and accountability will continue to elude the country. The chaotic consequences will surely be there for all to see.

Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com