Gender & EquityNewsMiss Cell 2022: Prison Comptroller Redeployed Over Beauty Pageant

The Comptroller of Kirikiri Correctional Center, Lagos, Mrs. Lizzie Ekpendu has been redeployed following the uproar generated over the beauty pageant conducted on March 8 in the female section of the facility during which murder suspect, Chidinma Ojukwu, emerged as Miss Cell 2022.

Recall that Ojukwu, the alleged murder suspect of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, was crowned ‘Miss Cell 2022’, on March 8, 2022, at a beauty contest organized by the prison authorities to commemorate International Women’s Day.

The contest generated mixed reactions across the country with some people arguing that the pageant was inappropriate for a suspect facing a murder trial while others argued that the prison authority reserved the right to conduct the pageant of all inmates.

Vanguard reports that, although the prison authorities defended the action, the comptroller of the female prisons, Mrs. Ekpendu, was redeployed to the Lagos Command Headquarters, Alagbon, Ikoyi last week as a result of the matter.

“I can confirm to you that Mrs Ekpendu, the Comptroller of Kirikiri Female Prison has been redeployed to the Lagos Command Headquarters, Ikoyi. She has been replaced by another senior female officer,” a source, who did not want his name mentioned because he was not officially permitted to speak on the matter, told Vanguard