Kuje jailbreak: Threats before Nigeria, if her capital is unsafe!
Insecurity scourge took a tougher dimension on Tuesday night, the 5th of July, 2022, following another prison attack, this time on the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS); a development that left no fewer than 879 inmates fleeing from custody. Although attacks on prison facilities recently on a number of occasions, have shown forth, the fact that the government was still caught unawares at its capital is lamentable. No fewer than five persons were reported killed, following Tuesday night attack by terrorists, numbering over 200, who did not only bomb the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), but also left the way open for inmates, including incarcerated terrorists, to flee from the facility. Among the casualties of the attack was an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the facility, three personnel of the Nigerian Correctional Service seriously injured, while four inmates, said to have attempted an escape were also killed. Following hunt after the 879 inmates who escaped from the facility, over 443 have officially been said to have been rearrested as at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile as shock and apprehension trail the attack, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) has owned-up to the attack, claiming responsibility for same. In a video released Wednesday, 06, July 2022, night, where the responsibility claim was made, the terrorists showed how some of its members entered the Kuje prison. The 38 seconds video showed that the terrorists shot indiscriminately before gaining access into the prison. The Islamic State’s A’maq Agency released the video with a caption in Arabic which read, “Fighters of Islamic State attacked Kuje prison in Abuja yesterday and succeeded in releasing many prisoners.” Knocks on the Government have been taking course, and a responsive posture to same remains demanding. Questions have been raised over the fate of Nigerians if attacks with explosives could not be forestalled from taking its toll on the capital territory.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, following the attack had demanded that President Buhari resign over worsening insecurity in the Country. Kachikwu in a statement, said the attack on the convoy of the President’s security guards on their way to Daura, Katsina State and simultaneous attack on Kuje Correctional Centre, were clear signs that the country is threatened with what he described as the “weak underbelly of our nation’s security architecture.” He wondered who then is safe if the President’s convoy can be attacked as well as the Kuje Prison, which is within the jurisdictions of the nation’s seat of power.
Kachikwu said, “The events of the last 24 hours has once again exposed the weak underbelly of our nation’s security architecture. Some members of the President’s advance team were attacked while the Kuje prison in our nation’s capital was attacked and scores of prisoners released by terrorists. This is indeed another low moment in a series of low moments under the Buhari administration.
“I sympathise with the families of those killed in the line of duty. I once again call on President Buhari to do the honourable thing and resign since he can no longer secure the Nigerian people. Nigerians are paying a huge price for his inept leadership. If the terrorists are now bold enough to attack the President’s convoy and a heavily guarded prison just a few kilometres away from the Aso Villa, who then is safe in Buhari’s Nigeria?”
Yielding the call to responsiveness remains pertinent, just as Nigerians should not be unmindful of the temptation of reducing the discourse to mere instrument of scoring political scores. The situation before the Country is such demanding full weight of concerted efforts with the thrust of sincere commitment and a trust of duty to protect the Country from threats against its existence – hence demanding nothing but firmness in full responsiveness from all quarters – the Government in particular, having loads of duties. Since the #ENDSARS protests in 2020 which saw the successful invasion of a prison in Benin, Edo State, with inmates set free, the attacks on Correctional Centres have become a waving phenomenon. While an attempted jailbreak at the Ikoyi Prison in October 2020 was forestalled, several attempts and actual invasions have led to security operatives being overwhelmed and inmates set free, following break into the correctional facilities. Some of the attacks have recorded the death of a number of security operatives.
September, 2021, hundreds of prisoners had similarly escaped from the medium Federal Correctional Centre in Kabba, Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State. Gunmen in their tens had attacked the prison centre which is on the Kabba – Lokoja highway, killing the military men keeping guard on the road before attacking the centre. In April, 2021, some gunmen had attacked the Imo Police Command Headquarters and a Correctional Centre with explosives and freed some inmates. The gunmen were said to have operated with no fewer than 10 vehicles overpowering the security guards at the police command. Recall that on the 22nd October, 2021, the Abolongo Correctional Centre in Oyo town, Oyo State, suffered an invasion by unknown gunmen who invaded the facility – a development that opened the gate for no less 837 awaiting trial inmates fleeing from the Correctional Centre. The spate of attacks on correctional centres in the Country have been taking toll recently – an ugly phenomenon which appears to have been emboldened since the 2020 #ENDSARS protests.
The fact that the Kuje prison jail attack was successful, sends nothing but a sense of failure in government and its sacred duty of ensuring security. That the attack was graduated to the Federal Capital Territory after a number of jail break and attempted ones since 2020 took their turn, is a shameful disposition of laxity and insensitivity. It is apparent the recurring attempts and attacks are enough signals to intimate the Government to beef-up security across the Correctional facilities in the Country. The fact that the attack was taken to the capital city within the jurisdiction of the central government, is spit on its face.
Beyond the shame, the sensations that such attack sends forth, goes beyond not only adding up to the fears of the masses with feelings of being insecured, but also bears instigating substances to further embolden terrorist groups in the Country. The Country is now amidst a turbulence of insecurity mayhem demanding nothing but a full attention of the Government. Such response, demands no less than responsive mode of emergency operations to strategically deform the networks of insecurity in the Country. The threats before the Country have grown beyond what the docile posture displayed by the Government so far, can handle. Whether the Government needs to rise from slumber and become vehemently driven by concerted firmness to clampdown on security threats in the Country is an option that is indisputable.
