A Nigerian Correctional Service officer has reportedly committed suicide after being denied promotion for three consecutive times.
Alfred Bassa who was an assistant superintendent of prisons had written the promotional examinations and passed three times, however, the authorities denied him his promotion.
“He decided to end the nightmare by taking his own life,” one of his senior colleagues told some journalists.
The 28-year-old prison officer brought a Sniper bottle with him to work at the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Keffi, which he drank while in his uniform.
According to colleagues, Mr. Bassa did not appear to suffer from any mental health crises before the incident.
Sources add that the tragedy which occurred on Friday, October 2, 2020, sent the entire facility into panic and prison authorities in Abuja swiftly swung into action to prevent the news from getting to the public.
His demise came just as the prison service was promoting officers to new ranks and unfortunately, Mr Bassa did not make the promotion list.
Mr. Bassa was scheduled to get married to his long-time sweetheart on November 19, 2020, when the humiliation of being denied promotion for the third time became too much for him to absorb.
“He has watched as his contemporaries were being selectively promoted, including some who did not even pass promotional examinations,” an official said.
The correctional authorities have failed to pursue a closure on the tragedy, scrambling instead to hush it up, officials said.
Attempts to reach Ja’afaru Ahmed, comptroller-general of corrections did not yield any result.
Some of his colleagues alleged that Mr. Ahmed and the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, did not show any concern towards Mr Bassa’s death.
“He did not show any care about the young man that died when he was informed about it.
“Neither did he even bother to say he would launch an investigation into the injustice of selective promotion,” the colleagues said.
The Nigerian Correctional (Prison) Service and its sister interior agencies have long faced allegations of injustice and gross misuse of power with regards to personnel promotion and other career progression policies; however, the government has continued to deny the allegations.
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