Chidinma and the slain SuperTV boss Ataga Usifo
Kirikiri pageantry
The Nigerian Correctional Service has claimed that it is sensitive to the plight of victims of crime and their families and would not indulge in any activity to assault or undermine their sensibilities.
NAN reports that the declaration was made in Abuja by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Francis Enobore.
Enobore explained that the pageant held at the Kirikiri, Lagos, custodial centre to mark the 2022 International Women’s Day was not to make heroes out of criminality.
He was reacting to misgivings in some quarters about the participation of a murder suspect, Miss Chidinma Ojukwu, who emerged winner in a beauty pageant, held by the service earlier in March.
The pageant held at the Kirikiri, Lagos, custodial centre to mark the 2022 International Women’s Day.
Miss Ojukwu is standing trial as a prime suspect in the murder of Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga, in 2021.
Enobore stated that the NCoS identified with the Atagas in their moment of grief and would do everything within its power to assist the course of justice in unveiling those behind Ataga’s murder.
“The intendment of the pageant was not to glamourise or make heroes out of criminality, he stated.
He added that the pageant in question was one out of series of events at the ceremony that featured competition in dancing, singing, bead making and costume design among others.
“Aside creating a relaxed atmosphere for inmates, the prizes do not bestow any right or privilege on any of the contestants.
“Moreover, the event was for internal consumption within the custodial environment and never meant to be given wide publicity,’’ Enobore stated.
He stated also that prizes were won by other inmates equally facing charges for heinous crimes.
Enobore added that the Service believed that controlled social engagements did not interfere with trial of cases in court as activities within custodial centres had no bearing with evidence needed for cases to be tried.
“For the records, psychosocial engagements have traditionally been part of the Service’s inmates treatment regimens designed to provide emotional stability needed to promote total well-being of inmates and enhance safe custody,’’ he stated.
He recalled that several internationally-recognised artistes like Sam Okposu, Onyeka Onwenu, Alabi Pasuma, Denrele, Lamboginny, among others, staged lavish concerts at the Kirikiri and Ikoyi male custodial centres in the past to fete inmates.
“In year 2000 to be specific, a TV station covered a musical concert for male inmates at the Ikoyi Custodial Centre.
“At the concert, Dr Sola Fosudo, Head, Department of Art & Music, Lagos State University, praised the performance of inmates and commended NCoS personnel for their effort.
“These events, beyond the venial of entertaining criminals and suspects, provide avenues for generating actionable intelligence to address some knotty issues under investigation.
“The intelligence community has severally benefitted from this service,’’ Enobore stated.
He also addressed the issue of alleged squalor in male custodial centres and stated that females account for less than 1.5 per cent of the total national population of about 70,000 inmates of custodial centres.
“Therefore, overcrowding and the attendant chaos are exclusively found in male custodial centres due to pressure on infrastructure,’’ Enobore stated.
In an opinion article last week, titled “That Scandalous Pageantry At Kirikiri Prison”, The Guardian had written as follows:
“The oddity of Miss Cell 2022 pageant, held in Kirikiri prison the other day, was a nasty surprise that showcased the Correctional Centre as lacking in discretion. Ab initio, the event to commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) with inmates was a noble intervention. But it lost its innocence when a high profile murder suspect becomes the postal child of beauty, character and role modeling that pomp and pageantry epitomises. Behind the frivolity of the event is a rude insensitivity that makes a mockery of both morality and the justice system in Nigeria.
Not a few Nigerians were shell shocked when photo shoots of Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the murder case of SuperTV boss, Usifo Ataga, made it to social media platforms. This time, Chidinma was not in prison clothes nor remorseful, but in a celebrity mood! It so happened that the Kirikiri Correctional Centre chose to commemorate the IWD 2022 with a beauty contest. Ojukwu, a 300-level Mass communication student of University of Lagos, who is facing trial alongside her sister, Chioma Egbuchu, and one Adedapo Quadri, for Ataga’s cold-blooded murder, competed with other inmates and won the Miss Cell 2022 crown. But beyond the face value, it was a bad advertorial for reigning Miss Cell, the correctional service and the Nigerian society at large.
Following the change of name from the Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigerian Correctional Service in 2019, the detention community has been trying to live up to a standard. And more talks than actions have been made in putting a human face to life behind bars. But the reality is that Nigerian prisons are still as ugly and dehumanising as they were before the change of name. Conditions across the board terribly contrast with what was shown in that Kirikiri pageantry. As a matter of fact, a couple of gaily dressed beauty queen inmates belie the usual sorry sight of their male counterparts, to further affirm the gender discriminatory practices in Nigerian prisons. But for what purpose or gratification – in cash or kind? The media is awash with cases of sex abuses, sodomy, drug trafficking, and murder, among others that implicated the prison officers. Is the pageant a symbolism of the lasciviousness of the Nigerian Correctional Centres? Attempts to cover up for the despicable conditions in detention? Or one to whip up the likely innocence of the accused?
The wrongheaded episode is most manifest in the marriage of the age-long beauty pageant with a crime suspect. Beauty contests traditionally depict inner and outward beauty, both of which are far-fetched in a prison. Over the years, pageants have evolved criteria that include a thorough scrutiny of personality, intelligence, talent, character and charitable involvements. The widely publicised circumstances that brought Chidinma to incarceration do not show her to have the inner beauty that merits the stuff womanhood, role models and stars are made of. As the case stands today, and yet to be determined, the suspect is not the admirable character to desire in Nigerian youths or women. Therefore, it is unforgiving that the Kirikiri Correctional Centre has made a model and a heroine out of a criminal suspect at a period the world is showcasing sterling qualities of womanhood.
The defendants are facing trial for alleged murder, stealing and forgery and the proceeding is due to resume next month. It is curious that the suspect and events around her are completely devoid of contrition. First, Ojukwu’s case is riddled with inconsistencies – from the initial confession to the crime, appeal for mercy, then denial of earlier confessions. Second is the privileged treatments that consistently accompany the accused like a celebrity, coupled with her nonchalant public posture at every court appearance. These, and the cat-walking in Kirikiri prison, could only fuel insinuations that justice may not be served at the end of the day. By and large, her inability to keep a low profile is further damaging to her case.
Indiscretion across the board is a bigger insult and insensitivity to the family of the deceased and the justice system at large. The defence by the Nigerian Correctional Service that the contest was staged to mark the IWD 2022 and to keep the inmates in high spirit, showed lack of discretion on the larger implications. Did they ever consider how the grieving Ataga family would feel seeing the prime suspect having a field day? Or how the public and judiciary would feel at the charade and duplicitous packaging of a potential wolf in sheep’s clothing? The Correctional Centre has only succeeded in showing the country as one where anything is possible; and that is regrettable.
The reckless abandonment of morality nonetheless, it is incumbent on the judiciary to take a firm notice of the development, its attendant public sentiments and ensure that justice is done in this matter. The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Interior, should as well call the Correctional Centres to order and apologise to the nation for this gross insensitivity. The pageant was one innovation turned bizarre. The institution, from which more is expected, should have standard and recommended practices in reforming minds of inmates ahead of reintegration into the society.
Correctional toga should not override the tough-on-crime principles expected of our Correctional Centres. Treating dastard crimes like venial sins does not elicit public confidence in the system, nor soften hardened hearts; it only emboldens them. The correctional centre got it all wrong on Miss Cell 2022.”
Read also:
https://radiatingthetruth.com.ng/that-scandalous-pageantry-at-kirikiri-prison/
