Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has made a firm commitment to reform the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) following serious allegations surrounding the treatment of high-profile inmate Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky.
This comes after a viral audio clip surfaced, shared by Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan. In the audio, Bobrisky alleged that his six-month sentence was not served in a standard prison facility. Instead, he claimed that with the help of his godfather and the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, arrangements were made for him to serve his time in a private apartment.
In response to these allegations, Minister Tunji-Ojo swiftly ordered an investigation into the matter. Just a day after the claims became public, some officials within the Correctional Service were suspended to pave the way for a transparent inquiry.
On Monday, during the inauguration of a special committee set up to probe the situation, the Minister reiterated his commitment to addressing the root causes of the issues within the NCS. He emphasized that the investigation must be thorough and extend beyond the immediate allegations concerning Bobrisky.
He said, “We want to reform the correctional service. Your core responsibility is to investigate specific allegations of corruption, torture, and mistreatment of inmates by correctional officers, especially the immediate one concerning Bobrisky, which I expect to be completed in two weeks.
“There is a need for a holistic approach to unravel the issues being investigated, through empirical and fact-finding processes.
“We will rely on you to come up with a way forward, as well as facts that will be made public to Nigerians. I want to say this very clearly: nobody will be shielded. Nobody, no matter how highly placed, will be shielded.”
