At least two senior officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service attached to the Kirikiri Medium Custodial Centre in Lagos have been suspended following a bribery scandal involving social media personality Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky.
The suspension was announced on Thursday night by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board in a statement made available to our correspondent.
The officers were suspended following a voice note shared by Martins Otse, a.k.a. VeryDarkMan, alleging that Bobrisky, after his conviction and sentencing for abuse of the naira notes in April, his godfather, in collaboration with the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, arranged for him to serve his six-month sentence in a private apartment.
Punch Metro reports that the high-ranking officers affected are Anugwa, Deputy Controller of Corrections in charge of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kiri-kiri, Lagos, and Sikiru Adekunle, DCC of the Maximum-Security Custodial Centre, Kiri-kiri.
According to the incriminating voice note released by VeryDarkMan, Bobrisky allegedly paid some unnamed officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission the ₦ sum of 15,000,000 from him to drop money laundering charges initially levelled against him.
Bobrisky was reportedly accused of laundering ₦127,780,877.98 between September 2021 and April 2024 through his company’s Eco Bank account.
Though the charges were secretly dropped following an agreement between Bobrisky and the EFCC, public outcry surrounding the case has escalated, leading to the Board’s decision to act on the alleged involvement of correctional officers.
Further investigations will determine the extent of these officers’ involvement, and the Board has reiterated its commitment to accountability and transparency in the nation’s correctional services.
Meanwhile, the board also announced the suspension of ASC II Ogbule Samuel Obinna, serving at MSCC, Afikpo, Ebonyi State, accused of escorting a convicted inmate outside the custodial facility without authorization.
Furthermore, Iloafonsi Kevin Ikechukwu, DCC in charge of MSCC, Kuje-Abuja, was also suspended for allegedly receiving money on behalf of an inmate.
