Journalist and activist Agba Jalingo has described Nigerian detention centres and prisons as hubs of extortion and illicit activities, alleging that access to basic rights in custody depends largely on money.
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Speaking in a joint interview on Arise TV’s Perspectives programme alongside Media Room Hub publisher, Azuka Ogujiuba, Jalingo recounted his multiple experiences of arrest and imprisonment, including six months at Calabar prison during the administration of former Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, and nine days at Kuje prison in Abuja.
He alleged that “there is no detention centre in Nigeria that you don’t pay,” adding that the claim that bail is free is false. “One of the biggest lies in Nigeria is that bail is free. Or that visit to prison is free. It is a lie. None of them is free. If you don’t pay money, you will not see your relative in prison,” Jalingo said.
According to him, extortion is systemic, ranging from minor payments to large sums. “In Calabar, they collect as little as N50. If you bring them N10,000, N20,000, any amount of money you give them, they collect. That is the truth of the matter. Even in Kuje, that is supposedly the best prison in West Africa, as it were, they still collect money from you.”
He further claimed that with enough money, detainees and inmates could access a range of prohibited items and privileges. “People stay in jail and do all kinds of things. There are those in jail with phones; they live large in prison. They have everything that they want. The only thing I did not see in jail is human parts and guns. Every other thing you want, including cocaine, it is in jail. If you want to have sex, you will have it. With the right amount of money, everything can be arranged.”
Jalingo also alleged that only a small fraction of those held in detention are actual criminals. “Most of the people in police detention, and even in prison, are innocent. There is only a minute percentage of people who are detained, whether in prisons or police stations, that have actually committed crimes,” he said.
He described the police as tools in the hands of political and vested interests, noting that many arrests of journalists and dissenters are linked to Section 24 of the Cyber Crime Act, which he argued has been weaponised against free speech. “The Cyber Crime Act was enacted mainly to deal with journalists and dissenters on social media. That law is of no other use than that,” he said.
Recounting one of his arrests, Jalingo said he was kept in the boot of a Toyota Highlander for 26 hours while being transported from Lagos to Calabar. “In handcuffs, I defecated on my body twice,” he recalled. He added that he believed his life was in danger during the transfer until public awareness of his case prevented foul play.
Ogujiuba, who was also on the programme, recounted her own detention in Abuja, where she said she spent three days in a police cell after publishing a court order. She described the cell as “horrible, smelly and dirty,” adding that she could not eat or sleep because of the conditions.
Both journalists criticised the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and other media bodies for not doing enough to protect journalists. Jalingo argued that union leadership is often disconnected from the realities faced by reporters.
Despite the challenges, Jalingo acknowledged that there are individual officers and warders who show compassion.
“Some of them are humane, and I don’t want to wrap all of them in the same cloth. Even in the prison, there were decent warders, and there were others that were very horrible,” he said.
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