TERRORISTS overran the Kuje Prison in Abuja because they came with superior weapons, the Federal Government said on Friday.
Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, spoke while briefing State House correspondents after an emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting convened by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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The minister also disclosed that the attack is being investigated.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attackers freed about 69 suspected Boko Haram terrorists held in the prison, as well as some other inmates.
On Thursday, the government said 879 inmates, including all the Boko Haram suspects, escaped.
A kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Bala, popularly known as Wadume, was among the suspect who escaped.
The onslaught led to the death of five persons, including an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC) and four inmates.
An undisclosed number of others were wounded.
Addressing State House reporters, Dingyadi said some of the attackers were killed during the raid, but he did not provide a figure.
According to him, the terrorists could have taken the corpses away.
“You see this kind of thing; they happen. And I want to assure you that all those who are supposed to play a role in ensuring that the attack is neutralized did the best that they could to neutralize it.
“I think what helped them (terrorists) was the number of people they came with and the superior weapons that they came with.
“And because nobody anticipated it, the few people who were there guarding the place could not withstand the number that they came with. I think that was what happened.”
The minister added that some of the terrorists were killed.
“Some of them have been killed. But I can’t give you the number, and I don’t know the number. Because like they used to do, whenever one of them is killed, they take the corpse away, and you cannot know the number of people who have been killed. But definitely, quite a number of them were killed, and many of them ran away with bullet wounds.”
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].