Michael Olugbode in Abuja and Laleye Dipo in Minna
Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has promised the country that the 119 fleeing inmates from Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre would be recaptured, disclosing that the manhunt for them has already begun.
Wednesday’s heavy downpour in Abuja and neighbouring Suleja in Niger State left part of the custodial facility destroyed, giving opportunity for some of the inmates to flee.
The minister, who visited the custodial facility to assess the situation yesterday, said manhunt had begun for those at large and they would soon be recaptured.
Olubunmi-Ojo said the federal government was amassing support from security agencies to recapture the fleeing escapees. He lamented that there were gaps in reporting line at the centre, stressing that the situation could have been avoided if the right information had been passed to the right channel on time.
The minister stated, “There was a breach on the outer wall of this facility and some of the inmates escaped. We were able to recapture 10 out of the 119 that escaped. So now we have 109 at large and the manhunt is presently ongoing and we will do everything humanly possible to make sure that everyone is brought in.”
Tunji-Ojo added that the federal government was going to look further into the remote and immediate causes of the collapse of the perimeter fence, which led to the escape.
He said, “We must make sure that this does not happen again. This could have been avoided if the right information at the appropriate time had been disseminated with regard to the structure and others
“But we will get them back, we will secure our correctional facilities and make sure that this doesn’t happen again in Nigeria.
“Obviously, the walls are already old and there are certain responsibilities we must take but we’ll do everything possible to prevent this happening in other facilities.”
He stressed that President Bola Tinubu had been concerned about urbanisation reaching into areas with custodial centres, hence, there was need to relocate some of them from the city centres for better security.
The minister also said, “There are a lot of things that I will not be able to say on camera with regard to the correctional centres, the reporting lines and other issues but we will handle those things behind the scene.
“We are not here to make excuses, but to take responsibility because we were elected to do the job and that job will be done.
“This is a facility built to hold 250 inmates. Before the incident, we had 499 inmates here. This gives credence to our concern over overcrowding in our correctional centres.”
Already, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) said 10 of the fleeing inmates had been captured but a manhunt was still on for those running.
A statement from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) service said the agency had since activated mechanism to recapture the remaining fleeing inmates.
Not less than 50 inmates escaped from the Suleja Correctional Centre in Niger State following the collapse of the perimeter fence of the centre on Wednesday night.
THISDAY learnt that those rearrested was as a result of the combined efforts of security operatives in Suleja and members of the community.
