Umar Abubakar, the Spokesman of the Nigeria Correctional Center has detailed what he knows about the attack at Kuje Custodial Centre located in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday night.
The attackers were reported to apparently freed jailed criminals, despite an earlier warning by the country’s intelligence.
He assured that the fleeing inmates will all be captured very soon.
Umar Abubakar confirmed that all the high profile inmates in the facility did not escape. He said that they are going about their normal activities in the prison.
He assured that the situation is calm now, appealing to the general public, especially those residing around Abuja environs to go about their various businesses and to also help to report to the security officials of any suspicious movement.
He said that he is not aware of any privilege information on the possible occurrence of the ugly incident. However, they had formed a joint taskforce comprising of the Nigeria Correctional Service, the immigration and the civil defence.
However, contrarily to initial reports that the security agents on ground were discharged prior to the attack, Umar Abubakar said that over 50 security operatives, including the Nigerian army were on ground during the attack, but they were overpowered by the armed terrorists who came in larger numbers.
He said that the attackers who came in their numbers distracted the armed security operatives on ground and were able to carry out their evil agenda.
According to him, a group of them came through the gate that leads to the entrance to the facility where the operatives engaged them in fierce shooting, denying them access into the facility.
However, unknown to the security operatives, another group came through the wall by placing explosive (IED) on it and eventually blowing it up to gain access into the facility.
He noted that what really happened was as a result of lack of proper intelligence. To him, if there was proper intelligence, what happened would not have happened.
While clarifying the report alleging that the soldiers that were supposed to be on ground were removed days before the attack, Umar Abubakar said that such a thing didn’t happen.
He said the soldiers that were said to have been removed before the attack were the ones who had completed their shift or turn. But they were replaced. According to him, those who were supposed to be on ground on that day were on ground, and they fought the attackers but were overwhelmed.
Leave a Comment