Scene of the Koton-Karfe Prison break in Kogi
State ... on Monda
The police and the Army have launched a manhunt for inmates of the Koton-Karfi Prison in Kogi State, who were set free by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents.
There were about 145 inmates in the 80-year-old
prison as of 10pm on Sunday when the gunmen gained entry into the prison by
blowing up its iron bars with an improvised explosive device.
A male prison officer and an inmate were injured
while another inmate was found dead after the attackers left.
Twelve of those who fled were said to have
returned to the prison under controversial circumstances.
[/media-credit] Another Scene of the Koton-Karfe Prison
break in Kogi State … on Monday
A prison source told one of our correspondents on
Monday that the 12 returned of their own volition but the Nigeria Prisons
Service Public Relations Officer, Ope Fatinikun, said they were captured.
Fatinikun added, ‘‘Unknown gunmen invaded Koton-
Karfe prison between 9.30am and 10pm and immediately it happened, the acting
Comptroller-General of Prisons, Aminu Suley, informed the Inspector-General of
Police, Suleiman Abba, and the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, and they
ordered policemen and soldiers to beef up security around the prison and to
arrest the fleeing inmates.”
The gunmen were said to have also broken some
of the prison’s walls before vandalising its record office.
Our source who pleaded anonymity said sounds of
gunshots caused panic close to the prison which is located on the
Lokoja-Abuja Road.
According to him, the gunmen operated
unchallenged for hours before security operatives arrived in the prison after
they had left.
The comptroller-General of the NPS told
journalists when he visited the Prison in company with Governor Idris Wada
on Monday that the gunmen forcibly freed the inmates.
He said that 26 of the inmates were convicts
while 119 were awaiting trial for different offences.
He lamented the congestion of the prison and
pleaded with Wada to prevail on the judiciary to quicken the trial of those on
awaiting list.
Wada said he would invoke his power of
prerogative of mercy to set free some of the inmates .
He said that he would also urge the chief judge
of the state to free some of the inmates.
The governor said security operatives were prompt
in their response when they were alerted, adding that it was regrettable that
much damage had been done before their arrival.
He also decried the deterioration of the prison,
saying it was not good for human habitation.
The governor promised to provide beddings for the
inmates who had been forced to live in sub-human conditions.
Wada urged the Federal Government to expedite
action on the new Koto-karfi prison. He added that when the prison was
completed, the old building which was established in 1934 would become a tourism
centre.
The Koton-Karfe prison was attacked in February
2012 by Boko Haram members who freed 119 inmates.
Meanwhile, the Police in Yobe State have
confirmed the killing of four persons by a suicide bomber who attacked a
religious procession in Potiskum.
This figure was however disputed by the leader of
the Muslim Brotherhood in the town, Mustapha Lawan, who lamented that 26
people died in the incident.
The suicide bomber was said to have joined the
procession by Shiites muslims celebrating the annual Ashurah (the 10th day of
Muharram 1436 celebration).
The state Commissioner of Police, Markus
Danladi, who addressed journalists, said that five people were injured in the
blast.
He said, “The blast killed three members of the
Muslim brotherhood plus the bomber. Before we got to the scene, the group had
evacuated the bodies of those effected by the blast.”
But Lawan told journalists on the telephone that
apart from the 13 persons who died on the spot, 13 others who were among the
injured later passed on where they were being treated.
Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam condemned the
attack on the procession as heinous, barbaric and unwarranted.
The governor, in a statement by his media aide,
Abdullahi Bego, said it was regrettable that the attack came at a time that
peace was gradually returning to the state.
Gaidam, who described those behind the attack as
“criminals who want to fan the embers of religious discord,” called on the
people to remain calm and vigilant.
The governor directed government hospitals in the
area to provide immediate medical treatment to all the victims of the attack
free of charge.
http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-invades-kogi-prison-frees-143/
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