Benue Command Of Nigeria Prison Service Appeals To FG For Operational Vehicles

    

The Benue Command of the Nigeria Prison Service, on Wednesday appealed to the Federal Government for operational vehicles to enhance its effectiveness in conveying inmates to courts.

The State Comptroller of Prisons, Mr Peter Pevigo said this in Makurdi that the command has no single official vehicle for the movement of inmates.

Command now uses all kinds of buses, including ambulances to move inmates to courts.

Pevigo explained that the command had no option but to improvise, by exploring alternative means of conveying inmates to court to avoid any breakdown of law and order in the prisons.

“We do not have any Black Maria, the official car for the movement of inmates from one place to the other, so we have to improvise alternative means of solving the problem.

“This is a very sensitive issue, because if we fail to take inmates to court at the appropriate time, they may cause havoc or cause any unlawful thing within prisons yards.

“At the moment, we have 858 inmates out of which only 86 are convicts.

“It is incumbent on us to take 772 inmates awaiting trial to court as at when due, that is why we are using our discretion to solve the issue.” he said.

The comptroller explained that the command had officially communicated to relevant authorities about their condition and expressed the hope that the situation would be addressed soon.

He commended prison warders under the command for their hard work and dedication to duty, and ensuring peaceful coexistence at all times.

CNPP Rejects Benue Council Elections, Demand its Annulment

 


The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), umbrella organization of all registered political parties and associations in Nigeria, has rejected the process and the outcome of the Saturday’s local government election in the Benue State.


It described the outcome as an “unprecedented rape of democracy and rubbishing of every tenet of free, fair and credible election at the local government level”.

The CNPP in a statement by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, while demanding for its cancellation, observed that “the process was tailored by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) and the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) and Governor Samuel Ortom to produce APC Chairmen in the state irrespective of the people’s choice.

It said, “The voters apathy marred the election in all 23 Local Government Areas of Benue State on Saturday, which resulted in low turnout of voters across the state clearly indicate that the people rejected the process and a remarkable statement that the election outcome is a fraud.

“We, therefore, call on the National Assembly, the international community and all well-meaning Nigerians to take note of the unprecedented rape of democracy and rubbishing of every tenet of free, fair and credible election at the local government level through electoral process manipulation by the Governor Samuel Ortom led administration.

“For us, no election took place in Benue on Saturday and we demand immediate cancellation of the election”, CNPP stated.