Kirikiri riot: ‘Pastor’ says controller diverted inmates’ food

Friday, 17 October 2014

A prison inmate, Christopher Dibia, who is believed to have started the riot in the Kirikiri Medium Prison on Friday, last week, has accused the Deputy Controller of Prisons, Mr. Kayode Odeyemi, of diverting the food supplies of the inmates.The inmate, popularly called G.O. (General Overseer), said the alleged diversion was among several reasons the inmates protested...

Dibia made the allegation on Wednesday during a fact-finding visit of the National Human Rights Commission to the prison.Dibia, who is the leader of the prison Pentecostal chapel, Freedom Chapel, was convicted of attempted robbery in 2011 and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment.Narrating how the protest started, Dibia said, “The problem started when a new Deputy Controller of Prison was posted here and he addressed us on the field. He said he didn’t want to see phones and Indian hemp in the yard.“We all complied because they had never been allowed before now. For the chapel, we have microphones and keyboards and they are most times powered with the chapel generator.

“But he said he didn’t want us to use generators again and that we should not use microphones. We told him the instruments were things that gave us joy and hope as prisoners. But he said no.

“Meanwhile, I have a congregation of over 700 inmates with workers numbering 180 in about five departments of the church.”G.O. said the chapel managed until the problem of confiscation of gift items and donations to inmates started.He said churches outside the prison that brought items for the inmates usually informed inmates that they dropped them at the prison gate, but the prison authorities never delivered the items to them.He said, “The inmates started coming to meet me that they needed noodles, detergents, tooth pastes, and when I told them I didn’t have anything, they reminded me that our visitors announced on the pulpit that they brought stuffs for us.“I was speechless because they were right. I didn’t know what the DCP was doing with the items maybe he was eating them or giving them out. I met the DCP over the matter, but he didn’t do anything.

“One day, I told him the inmates were angry and they said they would stone him.

“That made him angry and he asked the officers to put me in the punishment cell for telling him that. But after they pleaded for me, he allowed me to go.”Dibia, who is in his fifties, said a few days to the crisis, the chapel was promised a fan and microphone, by a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God after the chapel explained it needed the gadgets because of the heat in the chapel.He said on the fateful day, the fan was being brought into the chapel when he was called.He said he was put in the punishment cell for bringing in the materials without approval.Upon his release by the officials, angry inmates were said to have mobilised and swooped on the warders throwing stones at them.He said, “I could not control them because they were already many and they started protesting. Even before I came out from solitary confinement, they had refused to enter the dormitories, insisting I must be released and they wanted to know what I did wrong.

“None of the warders was attacked. It was just a protest by the inmates for all that had been happening since the new DCP came in,” he added.Soldiers were said to have been called in and fired shots that killed some of the inmates, leaving scores injured.Dibia claimed the DCP unleashed dogs on him and the dogs inflicted bites on his hands.He showed journalists wounds on his two arms, which were purportedly inflicted by the dogs.He added that he had confirmed that while four people lost their lives, 23 others were injured and were hospitalised. However, the chief warder, Orimogunje Mojeed, expressed disappointment in Dibia.

He said Dibia had said things that were untrue about the DCP, who had sacrificed much for their convenience.He said, “G.O., you said you are born again, but you need to go and pray more for a change.“I started to fear you when you were transferred from Maximum Prison to the Medium Prison after you poisoned someone there.“I like you as a person, but change your character.”Earlier, the DCP had told journalists that he had never harassed any of the inmates.Odeyemi said he had seized phones, Indian hemp and money from them on many occasions.He said, “I cut off the supply of petrol and kerosene to stop them from burning the prison in the event of a crisis of this nature.“When I assumed office, I worked on their food and ensured it was qualitative. I made sure their drugs were also brought on time. They only see me as being too strict because I enforce the rules.

“On the day of the incident, I had called him (Dibia) to know why he brought in the fan and microphone without the approval of the welfare section and that was how he blurted, ‘Your own is too much’.“I asked them to lock him up and that was how they started rioting. They destroyed all the louvres in the prison and stoned the warders.”Odeyemi said the soldiers who dispersed the prisoners only fired into the air.He added that while two people lost their lives, only four injured casualties were still on admission in the hospital.The NHRC Executive Secretary, Prof. Ben Angwe, promised that the commission would make its recommendation to the authorities on the matter.“Our responsibility as an institution is to promote and protect the interest of all Nigerians. We are the more particular on issues that concern persons who are undergoing a process of incarceration as prisoners and inmates.

“We have seen that there is a need for the prison inmates to be enlightened on their rights and entitlements as long as they go through the process of incarceration. We will issue a formal report of our findings at the right time,” he said.The Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Command, Mr. Vincent Ubi, thanked the commission, adding that two other panels had been set up, and they had submitted their findings.