NIGERIA’S Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola has ordered prison officials to employ ruthless measures in repelling attempts at jailbreaks in the country, including shooting offenders to death.
He said this during a visit to the Agodi Custodial Centre, Ibadan, on Monday.
Aregbesola ordered the officials to be more vicious in ensuring that the facility remained impenetrable as attempts to breach prison security were unacceptable.
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“The most important thing is the security impregnability of this facility. Make this facility impregnable. It is a red zone, dangerous zone,” he said.
“Whoever attempts to breach the security here is already dead. He must not live to tell the story. Other people will tell his or her story. Any effort to breach our facility is not acceptable. Don’t shoot to injure, don’t shoot to disable, shoot to kill,” he said.
About 5000 prisoners have been released from Nigerian correctional centres in the past two years.
In October 2020, hoodlums attacked two prisons in Edo states, releasing almost 2,000 inmates in the process.
Fifty-eight inmates were also released during an attack on a facility in Ondo State that same month.
In April 2021, gunmen had attacked a correctional centre in Owerri, Imo State, releasing about 1844 inmates.
Two other successful jailbreaks have been carried out in Kogi and Oyo states, during which many other inmates were released.
In November 2021, 10 persons died while 252 inmates were released in a raid on Jos Medium Security Custodial Centre, Plateau State.
Barely four days into 2022, four inmates have died during an attempted jailbreak at the Kosere correctional facility, Osun State government.
Out of about 5000 prisoners currently on the run, only fewer than 1000 have been recaptured, as disclosed by Aregbesola during a press briefing two months ago.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.