Kirikiri Female Correctional Center official, I/C Ekpendu Lizzie, has refuted social media reports accusing the facility’s administration of celebrating a murderer.
“Some social media posts criticizing Chidinma Ojukwu for winning the MISS FEMALE CORRECTIONAL 2022 BEAUTY PAGEANTS COMPETITION conducted on Wednesday, March 9th at the Kirikiri Correctional Center Female Prisons without disclosing the major aim of the event.”
“Findings proved that those news outlets were not physically present to cover the event; instead, they selected photos from the internet and wrote about them to grab readers’ attention.”
“The event, which was tagged “THE WONDERS OF WOMAN,” was held to mark the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations where every woman in the correctional facility was celebrated, including the correctional female staff. The event had two stages: the inmate Beauty Pageant, category tagged as “Miss Female Correctional,” and the correctional staff Beauty Pageant, category tagged as “Mrs. Female Correctional.”
“In the Inmate Beauty Pageant category tagged Miss Female Correctional, eleven (11) cells in the correctional facility were represented: Aso Rock 1 Cell, Aso Rock 2 Cell, Single Cell, Cell C2, Cell A1, New Cell, Cell A2, Cell B Line, Cell A3, Cell C3, and Cell C1 respectively. All contestants were presented to a unanimous decision of all inmates in the various cells.”
“Also in the staff beauty pageant category, tagged “Mrs. Female Correctional,” all the various departments and units in the facility were contested. Twelve (12) contestants were presented, starting from the Gate House, Welfare Unit, Clinic Department, Records Unit, Kitchen Department, Workshops Department, Training School, Catering Department, Store Unit, Radio, Gym and Psychology respectively, and the winner also emerged in the same vain.”
“Surprisingly, the full context of the program was not showcased on social media. The second part of the program, which was tagged “Mrs. Female Correctional,” wasn’t mentioned by any of the social media castigators. Instead, they went and castigated the winner of “Miss Female Correctional”. While none of the contestants’ names were mentioned during this event, they were tagged with the cells they all represent.”
“Chidima Ojukwu, who represented her cell A2, was presented by her fellow inmates to represent her cell and was lucky to have won the beauty competition. The fact remains that the correctional authorities did not celebrate Chidima Ojukwu as a murderer but rather celebrated her as the contestant who represented her cell (Cell A2) and won the MISS FEMALE CORRECTIONAL 2022 to mark the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations as presented by her fellow inmates to represent her cell.”
“The idea of the event is to relieve the inmate of any emotional trauma any of the inmates might have encountered during their trial and conviction periods, to change people’s narrative towards inmates across all correctional centers in Nigeria, to let the inmates feel very confident in themselves, and for them to know that they are beautiful and not to be condemned.”
“IWD doesn’t limit anyone outside the globe. People outside the walls of the cells are celebrated during the IWD celebration. We, the female staff and inmates, deserve to be celebrated during this time, which is why we used this avenue to celebrate both New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, and International Women’s Day in a ground-style, using a beauty pageant to highlight the wonders of women in the lives of the staff and inmates. This is the first event that has ever taken place in the history of any correctional center across Nigeria, and that was while many Nigerians believed we celebrated a murderer, but we did not.”
“Chidinma’s case wasn’t the only murdered case we had in our facility. It was only a coincidence that her case was a well-known case that went viral on social media.”
“The IWD celebration was done in ground style to celebrate the beauty that are behind the bar, both in MISS (inmates) and MRS (staff).”
“Pictures and videos has shown that the event included beauty pageants for both inmates and staff, jokes, music, dance, cultural celebrations of diversity, award presentations, and much more to ease the inmates of every emotional trauma in them.”
“The authorities of Kirikiri Correctional Center, Female Prison hereby debunk any rumor or any fake social media write-up that we celebrated a murderer in our facility.”
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
