Terrorist financing: Purge looms in NCS as FG orders investigation of officers’ misconduct
…Following intelligence by CDS
…FG warns of severe punishment for complicit personnel
By Ukpono Ukpong
Apparently not taking any chances, Federal Government (FG) has ordered immediate investigation of an intelligence report linking some officers of Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) with terrorism financing and sundry assistance to enemies of peace.
It said it would visit heavy consequences on any officer found complicit even as FG hinted at reforms of the organization.
A source told The Daily Times that the latter would involve some degree of purge of officers deemed unpatriotic or religious bigots.
Government’s action followed comments by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, on Tuesday when he appeared before members of House of Representatives, that some NCS personnel connived with inmates to finance the operations of proscribed terrorist groups.
Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, ordered the investigation.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Alao Babatunde, the Minister, under whose purview NCS falls, condemned the unpatriotic act, directing the Comptroller General (CG) of the NCS to investigate the disturbing allegation.
Babatunde said: “The Minister has called for a speedy investigation into the matter, noting that any officer culpable or complicit of sabotaging the Nigerian Correctional Facility, and by extension the security of the country, shall face the full wrath of the law.
“The Minister also wishes to inform the public that actions are underway to reform the Correctional Service to match international standards where inmates would be truly rehabilitated in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The era of talks but no action is over. The Renewed Hope administration will not entertain breach from any officer. We have the interest of the state to protect, and it is above anyone’s interest.”
It would be recalled that in the night of 5 July, 2022, terrorists stormed Kuje Correctional Facility, the largest such in the nation’s capital and in a lightening operation, freed over 800 inmates and all the Boko Haram detainees in the facility, in a move that shocked the nation.
In the months ahead of the Kuje attack, over 5000 inmates had been forcibly freed by terrorists at different times in different correctional facilities in parts of the country in what many Nigerians believed could not have been possible without insider involvement.
