Jailbreak in Lagos
A yet to be
ascertained number of prisoners were believed to have died as soldiers
and prison officials engaged fleeing prisoners during a jailbreak in
Lagos yesterday.
Scores of other prisoners were also said
to have sustained varying degrees of injuries from the incident that
occurred at the Kirikiri Medium Prison located in the Apapa area of the
nation’s former capital around 3.30 pm.
Already, the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) has ordered investigation into the incident, promising to release the details today.
But a senior official of the NPS said
the incident occurred after the inmates protested some privileges denied
by a senior official who had just been posted to the prison, one of
which was the use of cell phones by the inmates.
The protest later degenerated to
attempts by some of the inmates to escape from the prison, prompting the
deployment of the armed security personnel stationed outside the prison
to prevent them from escaping.
Apart from the prison officials who also
made use of sniffer dogs, personnel of the Nigerian Navy (NN), Navy
Town and Kirikiri Police Station were also said to have been called in
to assist the men of the Nigerian Prisons Service to secure the massive
gates of the prison.
The spokesman for the NPS, Mr. Ope
Fatinikun, had broken the news of the jailbreak at the end of a
three-day security session organised by the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja.
He said: “In line with the spirit of
this retreat, I want to inform the media that we have just recorded a
jailbreak at the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison in Lagos. We will
provide details on Saturday (today).”
When later called by our correspondent,
Fatinikun said: “The incident occurred at about 3.30pm, but prison
warders were able to manage the situation. Like I said, I cannot give
you the details till tomorrow.
Another source, however, said the warders, who were caught unawares, tried to manage the situation.
“As expected, there was a stampede
during the jailbreak and some people were wounded. We are still trying
to take stock to know the cause, the injured and those who escaped.”
The source said it was learnt that the revolt might not be unconnected with the overcrowded nature of the prison yard.
The 1,700-capacity prison had 2,517
inmates as at the time the immediate past Chief Judge of Lagos State,
Justice Ayotunde Phillips (rtd), visited the yard on June 16 for the
Jail Delivery Exercise.
Out of the 2,517 inmates, 2,382 were rated as awaiting trial with only 135 convicts.
The former Chief Judge, who expressed concern about the congestion at the prison, could only set free 71 inmates
It was also gathered that some of the inmates had been complaining about overstretched facilities at the prison.
But another source said the jailbreak
might have to do with the alleged attempt by some criminals to set free
their colleagues who were detained at the facility.
“The NPS management has ordered an
investigation into the incident. We will release the details in the next
24 to 48 hours,” the source added.
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