By Ghazali Ibrahim
The Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board has dismissed an Assistant Superintendent of Corrections, Efe Onakpoya, for allegedly exposing how a convicted rapist was illegally taken out of the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, to meet his girlfriend for a conjugal visit.
According to a document dated July 21, 2025, Onakpoya was accused of “making a malicious allegation” that a fellow officer, Ogbule Samuel Obinna, took inmate Ibuchi Okoro Eze outside the facility to have “conjugal intimacy with his lover.”
The board described the claim as damaging to the service, even though the document confirmed that the inmate was indeed taken out of the facility without authorisation.
Despite confirming the misconduct, the board pardoned Obinna, issuing him only a written warning, ordering the loss of one year seniority effective July 11, 2025, and directing his redeployment to another command.
“Negligence of duty by unprofessional conduct of permitting an LO 362 unqualified inmate-convicted male (CM) Ibuchi Okoro Eze, out of MSCC Afikpo to the barracks and staff club which led to the purported conjugal relation with his lover on 14th September 2024,” the document read in part.
In contrast, Onakpoya, who allegedly reported the infraction, was dismissed from service.
SaharaReporters had in 2024 published an exclusive report detailing how Eze, convicted of rape and serving time at the MSCC Afikpo, was taken out of the facility on September 14, 2024, to a bar managed by his girlfriend.
A photo showing the inmate at the bar went viral, sparking outrage over security breaches and corruption within the facility.
Sources had alleged that warders routinely collect bribes to allow inmates temporary freedom, sometimes even escorting them to nightclubs.
“Only Afikpo people who were recruited and have stayed in this facility all their lives are allowed to do this dirty work with them, so that their secret will not be revealed,” one source said.
The dismissal of Onakpoya has sparked debate over whistleblower protection in Nigeria’s correctional system, with critics accusing the board of punishing an officer for exposing wrongdoing while shielding the perpetrator.
