The Nigerian Army, NA, has said the 5 July 2022 attack on the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre, which led to the escape of numerous inmates, to the facility’s lack of security measures.
Major Peter Ogbuinya, assistant director of commercial law for the Directorate of Legal Services of the NA, revealed this during an ongoing investigation by the House of Representatives joint committees on Wednesday.
According to Major Ogbuinya, the army observed “low perimeter fencing and the absence of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras” at the Kuje facility.
These security shortcomings, he argued, significantly contributed to the successful jailbreak.
Rauf Aregbesola, the immediate past minister of interior, had said 888 inmates escaped during the attack, including 554 persons awaiting trial, 71 convicts, 36 on death row, and 17 on life imprisonment. Some of the inmates have been rearrested while some are still at large.
The audacious attack raised concerns about the security of correctional facilities in Nigeria and the potential dangers posed by escaped inmates.
Ogbuinya, who represented the chief of army staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, said several intel reports were shared with the head of the facility before the attack, yet no action was taken to prevent the jailbreak.
” I know that prior to that incident, the Nigeria Army through the guards’ brigade commander wrote a series of letters to the deputy controller-general concerning some of the security observations, or better still, some things that would enhance the security within the facility,” he said.
“We know that the deputy controller general is doing everything possible to see if most of this equipment that would enhance the security is provided. However, it was still in the process when the incident happened.”
He said troops on the ground on the day of the attack returned fire but could not stop the security breach.
“The troops tried their best by returning fire to the Boko Haram terrorists. However, it was very unfortunate that the built-up of the general area was not sufficient to actually curtail the terrorists that came from different dimensions and it became a challenge because we are deployed in so many operations and could not deploy more to assist the correctional centre,” Ogbuinya explained.
Ezinwanne Onwuka, senior staff reporter and columnist with WAP is a Nigerian-based writer and content developer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her interests include reading, writing, researching and graphic designing.
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