Kuje prison attack: 600 inmates escaped, Boko Haram liable — Defence Minister

Joel Oladele, Abuja

The Defence Minister, Major General (rtd.) Bashir Salihi Magashi has linked the attack which led to escape of about 600 inmates of Kuje Prison to the terrorist group called Boko Haram.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday after the Tuesday night attack, the Minister disclosed that statistics at their disposal clearly show that Boko Haram was responsible, as all the 64 members of the group in their custody are amongst the 600 escapees.

According to him, efforts are on top gear by different security agents to ensure all the escaped inmates are recaptured.

“What actually happened, they came in numbers, they gained entrance into the building and they released some of the inmates and we are now following to see the kind of inmates they released and very soon the security will give you the details on that.

“So, minus that, I think we are trying to see what we can do to ensure that all escapees are brought back to the prison yard. The prison is accommodating about 994 inmates and we have escapees of over 600. Many of which have been captured and brought back, maybe by the close of the day, more would have been captured.

“Everything is under control. We believe the people who came to do this belong to a particular group and most likely they are Boko Haram because we have searched the number of Boko Haram that are in detention and presently we could not locate any of them. I think they are about 64 in the prison and they have all escaped. We have recaptured so many, so far over 300.”

Bashir while commending security agents for the efforts put in place so far, during and after the attack, said a timely intelligence report will be of help in forestalling the recurrence of such in the future.

“Every force or security agent working at Kuje Prison has participated in the best way possible to ensure that all the prisoners do not escape and I think we are happy that many of them returned and many didn’t go anywhere. There is only one casualty I was told, and I think it’s from Civil Defence and one is hospitalised, otherwise no death.”

Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Minister of the ministry of Interior, Shauib Belgore said efforts were made by security agents to repel the attack but they seemed to be overpowered by the terrorist who came fully determined on a mission to free their members undergoing trial for terrorism.

“There have been several attacks on our facilities, most of these attacks have been repelled but every now and then, there is one that they succeed in. In this case, they came very very determined, they came with high explosives, they attempted the initial entry, every attempt was unsuccessful with a very high grade explosive but they couldn’t break in.

“Then they attacked another section of the wall with even higher grade explosives which brought the wall down. The forces on ground did everything they could to repel them but the number they came with was very high which they were not able to defend again but they kept on fighting gallantly.

“The entire operation took just about 30 mins, reinforcement was called, they got here when they were like halfway through it and that actually served to limit the time which they operated. They were repelled and they left following the repulsion. At the time they came in, they killed one of the guards, a civil defense officer who died very bravely trying to save the situation.

“They came specifically for their co-conspirators but in order to get them, some of them are in general population, so they broke out and other people in that general population escaped as well but many of them have returned, they have reported themselves to the police, some we have successfully retrieved from the bushes where they are hiding and right now, we have retrieved at least about 300 out of about 600 that escaped and the retrieval exercise is ongoing.

“We received the report that there are about 50/60 that have been intercepted somewhere just a little outside town and you would have heard the helicopters hovering trying to locate different places where these people are.

“The military checkpoints and police checkpoints from here to Abaji, from here to Suleja and from here to town everywhere, everybody is on high alert and the inmates are being retrieved even as we speak.

“We don’t know how many were killed amongst the attackers but it’s quite possible they took their injured and other casualties with them,” Shauib said.