Thread by @thecableng

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION (II): Drug abuse, sodomy, bribery, pimping… The cash-and-carry operations of #Ikoyi Prisons | TheCable bit.ly/2pzj3b5 #CashAndCarryPrison #UndercoverInvestigation Cc @MBuhari @ProfOsinbajo @DrAhmadLawan @femigbaja @toluogunlesi @BashirAhmaad

@MBuhari @ProfOsinbajo @DrAhmadLawan @femigbaja @toluogunlesi @BashirAhmaad @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @MinOfInteriorNG @ogundamisi @GarShehu @nassnigeria @fisayosoyombo @TheICIR @AmnestyNigeria @segalink In the second of this three-part series, @fisayosoyombo exposes how the courts short-change the law, and the prisons are themselves a cesspool of the exact reasons for which they hold inmates.
thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison #UndercoverInvestigation

Too many unforeseen obstacles had sprung up against me by the time I arrived at the gates of Ikoyi Prison, Ikoyi, Lagos, on July 12: I’d had my most tortuous night in the police cell. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

Proceedings were well underway at Court III when we stepped into the Chief Magistrate Court, Yaba, Lagos, after my extrajudicial detention for five consecutive days at Pedro Police Station, Shomolu. It was a little after noon — or thereabouts. #CashAndCarryPrison

The magistrate — a dark, soft-spoken, middle-aged man after two or three other cases, mine was mentioned. His orders: remanded in prison custody, two sureties in like sum of N500,000 each, N150,000 to be paid into the Registrar’s account... #CashAndCarryPrison

Before the authorities take my freedom away from me, the first thing they do is give me a final semblance of it by unfettering my hands from the handcuff, as is the custom. That was just before entering the dock. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

Minutes later, the same man who released the handcuff returns to hand me over to a policeman who, accompanied by Zainab Sodiq, the lady posing as my sister, leads me downstairs. First stop on the ground floor is the office of the prisons service. #CashAndCarryPrison

Manning it, comfortably sitting opposite the entrance, is a gun-wielding prison warder, legs waggling, whose shirt hangs loosely on the wall inside, leaving his trunk scantily covered by a singlet. Inside that office are three more warders. #CashAndCarryPrison

The three officers summon my sister. “You can have a look at that holding cell and see if it’s the kind of place a human being should stay,” one of them tells her with feigned sympathy. “Your brother can stay in our office but it will cost you N10,000.” #CashAndCarryPrison

My sister takes a moment to peep into the holding cell, then returns to bargain. The negotiating parties reach an agreement of N5,000, collected by the singlet-donning warder. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

“The day @officialnairam1 was billed to be taken to prison, I was on this chair making cool money,” says one of them. “I made some good money, I won’t lie. Transfers were just going up and down.” thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG Naira Marley, the hip hop artiste whose original name is Azeez Fashola, had been arraigned at a Federal High Court in Lagos on May 20 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (@officialEFCC), on 11 counts of alleged Internet and credit card fraud. #CashAndCarryPrison

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC Seeing the lack of restraint with which they discuss acts of bribery and corruption, I approach them for guidance on the allocation of accommodation in prison. Apparently, it’s a high-wire fraud involving prison officials in court and those in the yard proper. #CashAndCarryPrison

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC “You can get a cell for N30,000,” one of the warders tells me. “You can also get for N100,000 or N150,000. You can even get a N1.5million cell.”
“A million and five hundred thousand?” I protest. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @SERAPNigeria @freepressunltd @TheICIR @fisayosoyombo “Of course!” he insists. “When Fayose was remanded in #IkoyiPrison, what kind of cell did you think he stayed in?” Fayose, the immediate past former Gov of Ekiti State, was remanded at #IkoyiPrison in October 2018 at the start of his N2.2billion fraud trial initiated by the EFCC.

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @SERAPNigeria @freepressunltd @TheICIR @fisayosoyombo Another warder cuts in. “Don’t worry, you can never suffer in the prison yard,” he says. “As long as you have your money.” thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison #UndercoverInvestigation

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @SERAPNigeria @freepressunltd @TheICIR @fisayosoyombo PHOTO: Male warder collects bribe to allow visitor see an inmate. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison #UndercoverInvestigation

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @SERAPNigeria @freepressunltd @TheICIR @fisayosoyombo @sokanlawon @amnestypress @yinkanubi @OgbeniDipo The prison warders do not quite know what to make of me when they find a hidden device on me, a supposed inmate, during the routine search at the entryway shortly after an #IkoyiPrison bus conveying the latest inmates pulled over at the prison gate. #CashAndCarryPrison

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @SERAPNigeria @freepressunltd @TheICIR @fisayosoyombo @sokanlawon @amnestypress @yinkanubi @OgbeniDipo Very early the following morning, Sunkanmi Ijadunola, the 3rd most senior warder in #IkoyiPrison, sends for me. They had seen the videos; they’d extracted the memory card from the device & watched footages of the five prison officials demanding bribes from me. #CashAndCarryPrison

@officialnairam1 @CorrectionsNg @raufaregbesola @segalink @AmnestyNigeria @ogundamisi @MinOfInteriorNG @officialEFCC @nassnigeria @HouseNGR @SERAPNigeria @freepressunltd @TheICIR @fisayosoyombo @sokanlawon @amnestypress @yinkanubi @OgbeniDipo ...and the court official negotiating a premature bail with me. Sunkanmi, as he is widely known, asks me to confess: “Who are you and what is your mission here?” thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

After several hours of carefully considering all possibilities overnight, I resolved that even if they held a gun to my head, I would not disclose my true identity. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

I knew once I did, that was the end of the story. After five excruciating, emotionally and psychologically destructive days in a police cell, I wasn’t prepared to ruin everything so cheaply. thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison #UndercoverInvestigation

Seeing I am unwilling to offer any useful information, Sunkanmi, the Assistant Chief, accuses me of plotting a jailbreak. “You’re here to understudy the prison security... #CashAndCarryPrison

...so that you can send the videos to your gang members outside,” he says. “You’re planning a jail break. Or you’re working for #BokoHaram; you’re a Boko Haram spy!” thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison

Sunkanmi sends for a cane and orders me to remove my shirt and trousers, leaving only my singlet and boxer briefs. with my hands cuffed behind my back; he descends on me. Read more 👉 thecable.ng/undercover-inv… #CashAndCarryPrison #UndercoverInvestigation