ABUJA — The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has expressed dismay that security operatives abandoned their position to allow the criminals to have a free day when they stormed the medium-security custodial facility, Kuje in Abuja on Tuesday night and released 879 inmates with 64 of them being suspected members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
The Minister who spoke to journalists after inspecting the level of damages at the custodial centre on Friday evening insisted that there was an adequate deployment of security personnel at the facility.
“Now my position is so clear, I have declared since April last year that all our facilities are red zones and that whoever attempts an attack must not live to tell the story. I still maintain this.
“We have a world-class facility here by any standard. I am disappointed with the level of defense.
“We had enough men to protect this facility but unfortunately they couldn’t hold their position effectively for defense and that was the reason for the breach.
“Kuje is the most fortified in the country. If fortification for security is the determinant of whether it is medium or maximum, it is medium by size but maximum by the security being put there.
“We have a platoon of security officers deployed here.
“We have a high grade of military and police and other security forces deployed for protection but strangely something happened most of which I cannot say on camera,” Aregbesola said.
The Minister vowed to ensure that all fleeing inmates are recaptured.
Recall that gunmen in large numbers believed to be terrorists stormed Kuje custodial centre in Abuja on Tuesday night.
The hoodlums were said to have used explosives and gained entry through the main entrance and the fence of the facility.
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