THE Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) has debunked a claim by a robbery suspect, Mr Samodu Dawopale, that prison officers at Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Lagos, demanded N50,000 to secure his release, after the order of an Appeal Court quashing his death sentence.
The 48-year-old suspect, who regained freedom after 14 years of incarceration, had alleged that prisons officers “wanted me to part with N50,000 to secure my release.”
But the Public Relations Officer of the service, Mr Ope Fatinikun, said the allegation was frivolous and unfounded.
“Where will an inmate condemned to death for about 14 years ago have N50,000 in the first place for him to make such allegation? That is frivolous and unfounded,” he said.
The death sentence was earlier passed on him by an Ijebu-Ode High Court 10 years ago, but was quashed by an Appeal Court in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, in May this year.
Fatinikun explained that what delayed his release was the effort to confirm the authenticity of the court’s order served the prisons by his lawyer.
According to him, the Appeal Court’s order for his release was served the prisons service on May 31, which was Friday, but prisons officers had to travel to Ibadan for confirmation of the papers on Monday, which was two days after because of the weekend.
He said unfortunately, they could not get the confirmation until June 6, adding that by then, Dawopale had called his lawyer, who told him that he had brought his release warrant since May 31.
According to him, Dawopale, in the process, became impatient and started causing commotion, even when prisons officers explained to him that they were awaiting confirmation before honouring the order of the court.
“There was every need for us to exercise fears, because somebody was condemned to death and anybody can frame up anything just to secure his release. When the papers were confirmed by the Appeal Court in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, he was released accordingly,” he said.
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