Evans is not starving -Prisons boss

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor 

The Nigerian Prisons Service, yesterday, responded to the allegation by kidnap suspect, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike a.k.a. Evans, that he was not being given enough food by prison officials.

The Comptroller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, in a response to Vanguard’s enquiry, made it clear that the service had no interest in starving any inmate, including Evans.

Ahmed pointed out that there was no preferential treatment in the distribution of food and services to inmates, adding that there was no reason whatsoever to feed others and deny Evans his ration. 

The Prisons boss said: “In prison, an inmate must eat the food provided, but when they want self-feeding, they can have it, but there is a caveat— their security will not be compromised. “In Evans’ case, we fear that his security may be compromised. That is why we took necessary measures to ensure that Evans is protected, secure and his access to anything must not be compromised.

 “It is not a must for prison officers to allow self-feeding. The officer in charge may allow self-feeding if he feels that the security of inmate will not be compromised.” Complaints Recall that Evans had, earlier in the week, complained to the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, that he was being starved by the prisons authorities. He also complained about the quantity of food being given to him by the authorities.

 Onwuamadike and the other five accused persons made the complaint during the continuation of their trial before Justice Hakeem Oshodi on Friday, November 17. The other defendants are Uche Amadi, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Chukwunonso Aduba. Immediately Evans was brought into the courtroom, he and his accomplices began growling about their feeding condition in prison custody. 

According to Evans, the prison authorities deprived him of change of clothes, food and water. He had said: “This is unfair; I have not been given food and change of clothes. I was not given the opportunity to bathe since Wednesday.

 I am seriously hungry now. “They locked us in one place without food and no water to bathe. The last time we were fed was when a wife of one of us brought food.”