The Nigerian Correctional Service NCoS has denounced social media reports that an underage death row inmate in its facility in Borno state is being sodomized by older inmates.
Spokesman of the Service, ACC Umar Abubakar in a message to Saturday Vanguard said the allegations were fabricated to cast the NCoS in bad light.
He said; “The attention of the Nigerian Correctional Service has been drawn to a misleading information on the purported age of Abubakar Mustapha, an inmate on death row in one of our facilities. This is a deliberate attempt by the writer to discredit the good works of the Service.
It is obvious from the report that the allegations been put forward are fictitious, disorganized with loopholes, and targeted towards soiling the strides being achieved by the management of the Service.
“First of all, the said inmate was purportedly reported to be a juvenile sentenced to death by hanging. This is not true as we can confirm that he was actually 19 years old when he was arraigned in court on March 25, 2021, and by the time he was convicted on 1st February, 2022, he was already 20 years old. Throughout the period of his trial in court, his age was never an issue because he had attained the age of maturity. Like I said earlier, this is a deliberate tactics which was deployed to woo the sympathy of the public, solely aimed towards cajoling the authority to consider the said inmate on death row for clemency. This is obvious in the said report.
“Secondly, the allegation of sodomy against the said inmate as alleged by the report is obviously a concoction of the author’s imagination, and this is laughable to anyone who knows the workings of our Custodial Centres. Suffice it to mention that the way these facilities are structured, and the surveillance therein, makes it practically impossible for such immoral act to play out in the cells. There is no gainsaying that this report is targeted towards drawing uncalled-for-public-sympathy to an inmate who is undergoing a sentence imposed by a competent court of law.
“We urge the public to disregard this fictitious report as it is aimed at misleading them and causing the said inmate to evade justice.”
An online news portal had said the inmate, Mustapha Abubakar was 15 years and had requested speedy execution from the Borno state governor, Babagana Zulum, saying he was being sexually abused by older inmates and warders.
