MONDAY- 25th October, 2021: The Federal Government has warned that it would no longer tolerate the attacks on custodial facilities across the country saying enough is enough.
This is coming after last Friday’s attack on the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Abolongo, Oyo State and previous attacks on custodial faciliteis in Owerri, Benin and Kabba in Imo, Edo and Kogi states respectively.
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who deplored the attacks when he visited the Abolongo custodial centre, yesterday, said they were not just random happenings but premeditated, planned and coordinated crimes designed to make Nigeria unsafe and ridicule the government.
The minister said “We are going after every single inmate that escaped from custody. We shall hunt them to the ends of the earth. All the security agencies in the country are on their trail. We shall not rest nor tire until we bring the last one in, dead or alive. Let me assure Nigerians of the safety of their lives and property. Our custodial facilities are safe and we are putting extra safety measures in place in light of the observed pattern of the external attacks we have seen, to prevent any such occurrence in the future.
“I am assuring Nigerians that the Federal Government will pursue not just those who attacked our facility, but those who have escaped lawful custody. The attack was unconscionable. I commend officers of the Nigeria Correctional Service and other members of sister security agencies, who provided perimeter security for our facility for fighting gallantly and holding the fort before the attackers were able to gain access to the awaiting trial section of the facility. However, those who escaped are already being pursued. Some have been rearrested, many more will still be captured”.
CEOAFRICA had earlier reported that the attack on the Oyo facility was launched by gunmen around 10pm last Friday with a total of 837 out of the 907 inmates held in the facility freed by the gunmen. One soldier, one Amotekun operative and one inmate lost their lives during the gun duel, while many sustained varying degrees of injury.
