A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has alleged that some officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) allow criminals to escape court verdicts by getting young men who will serve jail terms for criminals.
Speaking on Thursday at a media session titled, “Forget the past, forfeit the future: A nation seceding from humanity”, Falana said the country is at war and the level of criminality is on the rise.
He noted, “This will surprise you, when a judge pronounces a jail term, sir, before getting to Kirikiri, at Mile 2, warders have an arrangement whereby some prepared young persons will replace the convict. That is the person that will enter the prison, he’s paid.
The second one, in the court premises, there’s a syndicate by the defence counsel, prosecutors, warders and court clerks. Once the judge turns his back, the convict will arrange and pay them and the convict will walk back home.
“There’s a study in Lagos, I think 2005/2006, 199 people sentenced for drug trafficking, none of them made it to the prison. It’s a very serious crisis we are facing. If you want to discuss the security of our country, it goes beyond calling for mercenaries.”
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