Female warder dismissed for smuggling alcohol into prison

The Nigeria Prisons Service has dismissed a female prison officer, Mary Ikenye, for smuggling alcohol into the Kirikiri prisons in Lagos.

The dismissal letter signed on behalf of the Controller-General of Prisons by the officer-in-charge of discipline, DCP Agun Olatunji, stated that Ikenye was found guilty of negative activities which bordered on trafficking.

A statement by the Prisons Service Public Relations Officer, Francis Enobore, on Tuesday in Abuja, said the wardress’ action contravened the provisions of sections 14 (i) (a) and 82 (n) of Prisons Act, Cap P.29, LFN, 2004, and was punishable under sections 14 (i) (g) and 83 of the Act.

It noted that her offence posed a threat to the security of the prison formation, adding that the officer had been directed to hand over all government property, including her uniform and Service Identification Card to the authority before leaving.

The statement read in part, “The offence is usually viewed seriously because of its potential threat to security. Cases of inmates making illegal phone calls from their cells, organising jailbreaks and having access to weapons are all traced to trafficking, sometimes perpetrated by staff and this has often been a source of embarrassment, not only to the service, but the nation at large.

“Such compromising acts do not augur well for the security of a custodial institution like the Nigeria Prisons Service and also put the lives of innocent workers and inmates in serious danger.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force paraded two 200-level students of building at a university in Edo State, Endurance Ehichoya and David Eghosa, for recruitment scam.

The Director of Public Relations and Information, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa, who paraded the two students on Tuesday in Abuja, explained that Ehichoya opened a Facebook account with the picture of the Air Secretary, Air Vice Marshal, C.N. Chukwu, and a GSM number allegedly belonging to the senior officer.

He stated that Ehichoya posted a message on the account, asking applicants who would like the assistance of the Air Secretary to secure enlistment into NAF to call the GSM number.

On seeing the Facebook post, Famuyiwa said he directed an airman to call the number, adding that the suspect asked the caller to pay N75,000 into a Fidelity bank, but he was told there was no Fidelity bank branch around, so he gave a Zenith Bank account number belonging to Eghosa.

He said, “With the help of Zenith Bank, we tracked Eghosa to the Ekpoma branch of Zenith Bank Plc, where he was arrested by a team of NAF personnel dispatched from 81 Air Maritime Group, Benin. Eghosa was later flown to Abuja for further investigation.

“Thereafter, Eghosa’s relations, on realising that he had been picked up by NAF, contacted the police to get Ehichoya, the man who posted the message on Facebook and gave out the bank account details belonging to Eghosa.”

Ehichoya told journalists that he had yet to make money from the scam, adding that he had, however, received GSM recharge cards from some men for a dating scam.

Eghosa admitted to giving his account number to his friend and course mate, adding that he did not know it would land him in trouble.