Hours after the attack, Buhari visits Kuje Prison
In Abuja, the nation’s capital, President Muhammadu Buhari paid a visit at the Kuje Correctional Center.
According to Newsmen, the prison was recently attacked by gunmen who released hundreds of prisoners, including 64 Boko Haram members who were being detained.
Bashir Magashi, the minister of defense, had told reporters just before the president arrived that there were clear signs that terrorists had broken into the prison to liberate their captives.
Additionally, he had indicated that the Federal Government was making every effort to guarantee that other evading inmates were apprehended and returned to the jail.
“Most likely, they are Boko Haram because we have a sizeable number of Boko Harams that are in detention,” the minister said.
“Presently, we could not locate any of them. I think there are about 64 Boko Haram (members) in prison, they have all escaped.”
In addition, one member of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and four prisoners perished in the incident, according to the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS).
In a statement on Wednesday, NCoS spokesman Umar Abubakar said that the terrorists breached the facility using explosives on the center’s fence and main entrance.
Abubakar said that while 443 of the 879 convicts who had escaped from the jail had been apprehended, 16 inmates and three custodial personnel had been hurt during the incident.
Still on the loose are others.
In order to find all escaping inmates and bring them back into custody, the Service will use its Corrections Information Management System in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission, according to Abubakar.
See more photos of the President Buhari’s visit to the facility below:
