Senate Angry Over Kuje Prison Break and Attack

The Kuje Medium Security Custodian Center (Kuje Prison) was attacked without restriction by ISIS terrorists in the West African Province (ISWAP) in the early hours of Wednesday, and the Senate severely criticized the management of the facility on Thursday.

It voiced its complete disgust with the prison’s non-operational closed-circuit television (CCTV), which prevented management and security from stopping and properly responding to the attack that resulted in the escape of over 800 convicts.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, his Deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege, and other key officials expressed their outrage over the occurrence during an on-the-spot assessment, calling the attack highly regrettable and a failure of the security system.

They questioned how 300 ISWAP agents entered the prison’s grounds on foot, broke into the various cells, and released over 800 targeted inmates for more than an hour without being met with resistance from the security forces stationed there.

According to the Senate, this will not be tolerated since it is unacceptable. The inability of CCTV and other pertinent tracking devices to function is extremely upsetting and dangerous for the safety of Federal Capital Territory residents and detainees.

The Senate President declared,

“The way the operation was even carried out based on inspection made by us, strongly indicates insiders’ connivance which must be critically looked into.”

51 security officials were reportedly on the scene at the time of the incident, according to a barrage of questions directed at Haliru Nababa, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS).

The 300 assailants, who were carrying AK-47s and IEDs, outnumbered the 51 security personnel listed by CG NCS.

He claimed that,

“Our men and other security operatives like the Army and Police, gave the attackers the required counter-offensive which made them suffer casualty of about four terrorists.”

The Deputy President of the Senate, alarmed by his submission, remarked that killing four people out of 300 is not very noteworthy.

“I’ m personally disturbed by this your submission. Killing just four terrorists out of 300 is nothing to me.”

He claimed that,

“this type of poor response to the heinous crime of this nature is not deterring in any way because they can attack again.”

By resolution, the Senate President instructed the NCS CG to include ideas like hiring enough security workers at the centre and purchasing CCTV and other tracking devices in the 2023 budget.

The CG and other pertinent authorities on its Custodian Centers will be called before the Senate Committee on Interior and other security-related committees very soon for a post-mortem analysis of the incidents and necessary course of action, according to him.

“There should be an end to all these issues of jailbreaks or outright attacks.”

He emphasized that all maximum and medium correctional (e.g Kuje Prison) facilities must have operational CCTV and be fully secured at all times against any sort of attack.

“Our failing security system must be reviewed and required technology brought to bear,” he said.