According to The Punch, 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. 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.
This is very unacceptable for a crime to linger on for hours without any sort of confrontation from our security operatives!!! And as usual, they show up when the robbers/criminals have left the scene! They need to to “up” their game really fast.