Controller of Kaduna State Correctional Centre, Sanusi Danmusa has confirmed that the center decided to reject a convict brought in by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a directive from above to protect inmates from Coronavirus pandemic.
He stated this while reacting to claims by Kaduna Zonal Office of the EFCC that one convict, Sadiq Mustapha was brought to the center for admission and was turned back.
EFCC had on Wednesday secured conviction for a seven years jail term of one Sadiq Mustapha without option of fine, before Justice Mallong Peter of the Federal High Court, Kaduna for obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N6,100, 000 and operating illegal bureau de change.
Mustapha was arraigned on December 2, 2019 on a two-count charge, bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and operating a bureau de change without authorisation by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Trouble began for the convict following a petition by one Abdulsalam Danlami Abubakar, who alleged that sometime in 2016, Mustapha lured him into transferring the sum of N6,0100.000 in three separate transactions from his Zenith Bank account to that of his company, Abueleven Limited, domiciled in Fidelity Bank for exchange with dollar equivalent of $ 20,000 USD.
Meanwhile, the Correctional Centre Controller said, the center has stopped accepting new convicts and visitors in order to check the spread of the virus.
On the issue isolation centre, the Controller said there is a center but only for inmates who might show any symptoms of COVID-19.
Responding to the rejection, the Zonal Head of EFCC in Kaduna State, Yakubu Mailafia was highly disappointed with the policy of Kaduna Correctional Center.
He lamented that there must be an isolation center in all the correctional centers across the country to quarantine convicts or inmates when the need arises.
“EFCC has limitation of detaining inmates and correctional centers are the last bus stop of convicts. If their are rejected, where can we take them to?” he queried.
It would be recalled that the anti graft agency secured a seven years prison term of Sadiq Mustapha without option of fine, before Justice Mallong Peter of the Federal High Court, Kaduna for obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N6,100, 000 (Six Million One Hundred Thousand) and operating illegal bureau de change.
Sadiq Mustapha was presented to the Kaduna Correctional Center but was rejected by the center, this did not go down well with the EFCC.
The convict is presently at Kaduna Zonal Office of EFCC custody.