Kuje prison attack: Senate says attack only possible through insider collaboration

The Nigerian Senate has insisted that the attack on Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, in Abuja, could only have been possible with insider collaboration.

This was disclosed by Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Thursday after an assessment visit to the facility, following Tuesday’s attack.

The Senate President, therefore, ordered the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) to make provision for Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in all correctional centres in its 2023 budget to fight attacks on its installations,

added that the correctional facility is symptomatic of the failure of security architecture.

What he said:

Lawan said that the attack on “Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre, could only have been possible with the collaboration of insiders within the nation’s correctional system.”

“The attack on this correctional facility is symptomatic of the failure of security architecture. The attack is only a culmination of the failure. We were told that an estimated 300 suspected terrorists attacked this facility. They came on foot and I believe they should have been detected.

“In the first place, 300 people will not come for an operation like this without planning. Planning must have taken a week, a month or a bit more.

“I believe that our security agencies should have picked this from their tracking systems in the FCT,” Lawan said.

He added that the Senate is disappointed that the facility does not have CCTV cameras, saying, “This is a medium-security custodial center; how on earth in the FCT facility of this magnitude not have CCTV? It means we can say that all other medium security centers across the country do not have CCTV.  We have asked the Comptroller General of Correctional Service to ensure that the request for CCTV at the maximum and medium custodial centres of the country are included in their 2023 budget because this is essential and indispensable.”

“Now, as this facility lacks a functional CCTV, there’s no record of what happened, except narration. But if we had CCTV, at least the records would have been there and analysis made, and arrest will be based on the information from the CCTV,” he added.

What you should know

• Nairametrics reported earlier that the Federal Government reacted to the scale of Tuesday’s attack at the Kuje Custodial Centre, revealing that a total of 879 inmates escaped from the facility during the unfortunate incident.
• They said: “A total of 879 inmates escaped from the facility during the unfortunate attack. As at the time of this report, 443 have been recaptured, 551 inmates are currently in custody, 443 inmates are still at large.
• “Four inmates are dead and 16 inmates sustained various degrees of injuries and are being treated at the moment. However, efforts are ongoing to recapture all fleeing inmates.”