Patrick Kelechi
Daily Courier – Hundreds of Boko Haram inmates in Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja have escaped after an attack on the facility on Tuesday night.
Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd), disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja.
Daily Courier gathered that despite being offered golden opportunity to escape, former Governor Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, Farouk Lawan, DCP Abba Kyari, Abdulrasheed Maina, and a few other high profile Nigerians serving various jail terms at the Kuje Medium Security Prison, were said to have refused to join the over 1,350 hardened criminals who escaped from detention after some heavily armed gunmen attacked and freed more than 90 per cent of inmates at the facility.
The breach of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, has elicited palpable fear and condemnation in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Kuje Medium Prison on Tuesday night came under heavy bombardments by unknown terrorists, a development that threw the entire Area Council into confusion.
A source at the medium prison facility said the light went off around 10.25pm and was followed by a second and third blast and sporadic gunshots that left the residents scampering for their safety.
Daily Courier gathered that over 300 attackers invaded the facility few hours after they got security report, alerting them of possible attacks on the medium prison added that the attackers gained entry from the back of the prison yard. They invaded the place with sophisticated trucks and motorbikes.
Some eyewitnesses who stay around the Kuje Prison told our correspondent that the attack which lasted for about three hours.( 10:24pm to 2:45am) was done with ease , as it went unresisted.
For the residents, the delay in reinforcement allowed the attackers to have a field day as a barrage of bullets was fired throughout the assault.
While residents of the area have expressed fear about their safety, they called on the FCT administration to immediately deploy more armed men to their rescue.
Meanwhile , while the National Security Adviser, NSA, Rtd General , Mohammed Mungono and other security stakeholders were sighted at the premises , the leadership of the Correctional service are still yet to release official statement as they seem to be confused and demoralised .
After several ignored calls and text messages, the spokesman of NCoS, Abubakar Umar, confirmed that gunmen had attacked the correctional centre but that normalcy had been restored after security agencies intervened.
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