Several victims have stepped forward to reveal alarming allegations of fraud, blackmail, and corruption within Okere Prison in Warri, Delta State.
The accounts, which detail how prisoners have access to mobile phones, bank accounts, and even the ability to meet visitors in private for illicit activities, have raised serious concerns about the integrity of the correctional system.
One of the victims, who shared her harrowing experience with SaharaReporters, recounted how she unknowingly fell in love with an inmate at Okere Prison after meeting him on Facebook in 2019. The inmate, identified as Perez Ekiyor, convinced her he was a free man.
Through months of chatting and video calls, their relationship deepened to the extent that she opened a bank account in her name for him and registered an SMS card using her personal details.
The situation took a dark turn when she discovered suspiciously large sums of money flowing into the account—amounts she had never seen before. Realising she might be caught in a fraudulent scheme, she moved the money and attempted to sever all ties with him.
However, the prisoner retaliated by leaking their private conversations and n*de photos online, leading to a period of emotional distress and social embarrassment.
According to her, looking back, it felt like she was under a spell.
“It was only after I started attending church that my eyes were opened,” she revealed.
She said: “I met a guy in prison in 2019 on Facebook—I never knew he was a prisoner at Okere.
“We started chatting and doing video calls privately, and we became lovers to the extent that we shared our n*des. I opened an account in my name for him and registered an SMS card for him, using my details.
“We met in the prison after I fell deeply in love with him. I learned so many bad things from him. We even had s*x because he paid the warders to allow us to have some private moments.
“One day, I went through the bank statements and was shocked to see money I had never seen before in my life in the account. I moved the money from the account.
“Afterward, I went to the bank to resolve the issue concerning the large amounts of money moving through the account. I blocked him everywhere, including the line I got for him, and also broke up with him.
“He blackmailed me, dropping all our n*de chats online. It took the grace of God to help me out of that issue. Till date, I avoid online dating and even prisoners.
“A lot of atrocities have been committed by those prisoners and wardens there. Don’t let it slip. How can a prisoner be receiving ₦500,000 in a student account?”
“Everything I said here is nothing but the truth. Once I started going to a Celestial Church of Christ, my eyes cleared—it was as if I was being controlled. Imagine sending n*des with my face. God saved me. The prisoner’s name is Perez Ekiyor,” she added.
Another victim narrowly escaped falling into a similar trap in 2023. She recounted how a man, claiming to work in Ibadan, Oyo State, began chatting with her on Facebook. They built a connection over three months before he asked her to deliver food to him in Warri.
On the night of the planned meeting, the man suddenly stopped responding to calls, only for her to later receive a phone call from someone claiming to be his brother.
The caller alleged that the man had been arrested and taken to Okere Prison for possessing iTunes gift cards sent by a foreign woman. He then tried to extort her for N200,000, claiming it was needed to pay a lawyer to secure his release. Suspicious of the story, she insisted on visiting him at the prison.
Fortunately, fate intervened when a prison guard, who happened to be her elder sister’s former schoolmate, recognised her outside the facility and warned her to stay away.
The guard confirmed that the supposed “boyfriend” had been incarcerated since 2020 and was part of a group of inmates known for scamming unsuspecting individuals, luring them into financial traps and emotional manipulation.
She narrated her experience: “The Okere Prison issue in Warri is real. I would have fallen victim in 2023 if not for one of the prison workers who was my elder sister’s schoolmate and helped me.
“This boy was chatting with me on Facebook and told me he worked in Ibadan. I had no idea he was in Okere Prison here in Warri. We chatted for about three months. One day, he told me he was off work and would be coming to Warri. He asked me to bring food for him because I owned a restaurant in Warri.
“On that fateful day, he sent me N5,000 and said I should bring the food. It was already night, around 7 p.m. He told me to bring it to Avenue. On my way, I called and told him I was close to the estate and asked where I should stop, but he dropped the call.
“I kept calling, but he didn’t answer, and later, his phone was switched off. So, I went back home.
“On Monday afternoon, someone called me with a different number, claiming to be his brother. He said the police arrested him while he was coming to pick up the food. I asked where he was, and he said Okere Prison. I asked what his offence was, and he told me the police found iTunes gift cards that a white woman sent to him.
“I asked, ‘Just that?’ He said yes.
“He then asked me to help him borrow N200,000 to give to his lawyer, saying he would pay me back once he was out. I told him his story was not clear to me, so I couldn’t do that. Then, he called me on a video call from inside the prison to prove he was really there.
“The next day, Tuesday, I decided to go and see him at Okere Prison, Warri.
“On my way, someone called my surname. I turned around but didn’t recognise the person. He then introduced himself as a prison guard and my elder sister’s schoolmate.
“He asked me who I had come to visit. When I told him the name, he warned me to stay clear of the boy, saying he had been in that prison since 2020. He explained that this was how they normally dupe people out of their money and even put some in debt. That was my experience before that guy was released.”
“This is my own experience, not something I heard from others. The number he had of mine, I had to block it because he kept calling me with different numbers from prison,” she added.
SaharaReporters previously reported a robbery took place on January 3, 2025, when armed assailants attacked a young man, stole valuables, and transferred N4 million to an online bank account.
Initially, the case was reported to the Edo State Police Command, but progress in identifying the suspects was slow. A breakthrough came when a geo-analysis of the bank account led investigators to the Udu area of Delta State, where they arrested the account holder, a woman who claimed she was unaware of the crime.
She told the police that her boyfriend, whom she met online, had instructed her to open the account after claiming his phone had fallen into a river. She later withdrew and transferred large sums of money under his direction.
Further investigation revealed that the robbery had been orchestrated by inmates at the Warri Correctional Facility.
When police officers arrived at the prison, they were initially met with resistance from officials, who refused to hand over the suspects. However, authorities eventually managed to arrest one of the inmates—who was already on death row—after he confessed to participating in the crime.
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Source: SaharaReporters
