The Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) yesterday insisted that it was its right under certain situations to handcuff any inmate.
NPS defended the handcuffs placed on the National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, when he appeared at the Federal High Court in Abuja, last Tuesday.
Metuh is alleged to have received N400 million as part of funds meant for arms, from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014.
The NPS said putting handcuffs was the discretion of the prison officer and in order because the service must prevent any security breach.
Its Pubic Relations Officer, (PRO), Francis Enobore, who spoke with our correspondent, dismissed allegations by the PDP and its governors that NPS maltreated Metuh in a bid to play out a script orchestrated by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “The use of mechanical restraints in prisons is as old as the institution and it’s determined by many factors. The officer studies the security situation and takes the appropriate decision to secure the inmate.
“Part of the factors include disposition of the prisoner, security concerns along the route, court premises, mode of the relations or friends of the inmate, the security situation in the country, intelligence available to the officer and others.”
“Note that the primary responsibility of the prisons is safe custody of inmates therefore, whether in the yard, on transit, in court or hospital the officer is bound to ensure that security is not compromised.“
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