FIVE inmates and two officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) sustained injuries on Friday during a foiled jailbreak in Bauchi State.
Spokesperson for Bauchi Command of the NCS Abubakar Algwallary confirmed the incident.
Explaining how the incident happened, Algwallary said the chaos was triggered during a protest by aggrieved inmates who were protesting the trial of an NCS officer found to be snuggling ‘prohibited’ substances to inmates.
According to Algwallary, during the protest, some inmates from the ‘southern part of the country,’ who were aware of the happenings in Imo State, teamed up to replicate the same in Bauchi under the guise of protest.
“It was as a result of what happened in Imo State where some gunmen broke the prison and got away with some inmates from there. We have some conspirers from the South and they are serving their sentences here.
“Hearing what happened down south, they wanted to experience the same thing here in Bauchi. We thank God the issue has been quenched,” Algwallary said.
READ ALSO: Gunmen burn down Imo Police headquarters, attack prison, free over 1500 inmates
Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer Ahmed Wakili also confirmed the incident to The ICIR, saying that reinforcement was sent to the facility during the course of the attack.
Wakili said the situation had been put under control and peace had been restored in the facility.
“The command has sent reinforcement to the centre to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order. People of the area and indeed Bauchi metropolis are now going about their legitimate businesses without hindrances,” Wakili said.
The attempted jailbreak occurred four days after a similar incident at Owerri Correctional Centre in Imo State capital was attacked and 1,800 inmates released.
The gunmen, who attacked the correctional facility, also invaded the State Criminal Investigation Department and released detained suspects in almost all the cells in the State Police Headquarters.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94