Comptroller of Prisons under fire over brutality of Ekiti OPC chief

The immediate past Comptroller of Prisons in Ekiti State, Attahiru Mustapha is under fire over alleged brutality meted out on the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) leader Adeniyi Adedipe in custody.

Adedipe’s lawyer, Jamiu Tijani, disclosed on Sunday that his client was beaten, dehumanized, stripped naked and beaten by armed prison guards under alleged supervision of Mustapha at about 10.00 am last Wednesday, July 13.

Sources at the Ekiti State Command of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) revealed that Mustapha has been transferred to Taraba State where he will resume office tomorrow (Monday).

Tijani called on the NPS National Headquarters, Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Department of State Services (DSS) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to launch an investigation into the incident.

He insisted that his client who had been on good behavior since his detention in prison custody committed no offence to warrant the brutality visited on him in prison custody.

Adedipe popularly known as Apase is on trial alongside seven other persons in connection with the murder of the former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Omolafe Aderiye, on September 25, 2014, a charge which they all denied.

According to Tijani, he visited the Ado Ekiti prison facility on Friday for consultation with his client following the brutality.

He wondered why Adedipe was singled out for such treatment.

Tijani said: “What he (Adedipe) reported to me was that there was a little fracas among the inmates and when the State Comptroller (Mustapha) visited the place, he ordered that seven of the inmates be transferred to Akure Prisons.

“My client (Adedipe) told me that Mustapha said he didn’t fear anybody whether they are APC or PDP and Apase intervene that the Comptroller should not be speaking ill about political leaders when they have not offended him.

“Mustapha then said what effrontery does Apase have to challenge him for his utterance and he said he had wanted to deal with Apase. Then he mobilized armed guards in the prison to be beating Apase.

“Apase told me that he was stripped naked and the beating continued for about 39 minutes. Mustapha then ordered one of the prison officers to open the doors of the female section of prison for female inmates to come out and watch Apase’s nakedness as he was being beaten.

“We are demanding a thorough investigation to be conducted into this incident and we want CP Attahiru Mustapha to be summoned and quizzed on why he treated our client in such a dehumanizing manner.

“Unprovoked attack and beating of somebody is a serious assault; we are calling on the Attorney General of the Federation, NPS Comptroller General, Inspector General of Police, Director General of Department of State Services and National Human Rights Commission to investigate the incident and bring all the perpetrators to book.

“We are also calling on the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to investigate the circumstances behind the brutality meted out to one of its members in custody.

“We want to state as well that nothing incriminating was found on out client and he never made any attempt to flee. He did not even flee when he had the opportunity during the December 2014 jailbreak because he believes he never committed any offence.”

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti Command of NPS, Foluso Babalola, denied knowledge of the incident but promised to get back as soon as he got full facts on the matter.

Babalola said: “I have not heard anything about that, just give us some time to investigate the incident and we will get back to you with full response latest on Monday.”