The Nigeria Prisons Service has debunked allegations by Charles Okah’s legal counsel, Festus Keyamo, that his client was sodomized whilst in the custody of prison officials.
According to a statement released by the Service through its spokesman Opo Fatinikun, Okah was not sodomized, however he was frisked down to his undergarments in a routine inmate shake down that revealed a SIM card in his pant and also a GSM set within the confines of his cell, hidden in a light fixture.
The statement reads in part, “during the search, Okah, as usual, refused to be searched. But when he eventually subjected himself to the search, a MTN SIM card was found on him (under his pants), alongside a Nokia C2 phone and a memory card, which were discovered in an electric bulb fitting located on top of the concrete ceiling of his cell.”
“Instances abound where he (Okah) had bridged electrical wires in his cell, throwing the whole prisons into darkness and in order to discourage the smuggling of hand ets and other prohibited articles, searches have been made in the prisons throughout Prisons formations,” Fatinikun maintained.
he release stressed that upon realisation by him (Okah) that his antics have been punctured, he has allegedly vowed to embarass the service by peddling rumours and spreading false allegations against the management and staff of the service.
It added that the Controller-General of the Prisons, Mr Zakari Ohinoyi Ibrahim, had constituted an investigation panel headed by the Controller of Prisons, FCT Command, to look into the matter.,
It, however, assured that the Nigerian Prisons service would not want to join issues with anybody, including Festus Keyamo, on the pages of the newspaper, while it was pertinent that records be put straight.