By Folorunso Alagbede, in Abuja
The Federal government has ordered a thorough investigation into Monday’s prison break incident at the Koton Karfe Correctional Centre in Kogi State.
The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who disclosed this yesterday, described the incident as unfortunate.
Tunji-Ojo vowed to ensure that all fleeing inmates were captured leveraging on the service’s robust biometrics and the already deployed technology solutions.
The Minister, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Babatunde Alao, has also ordered the Acting Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Sylvester Ndidi, to visit the facility in Kogi to evaluate the situation, and commence a comprehensive audit to unravel the events that led to the incident.
He said: “We are on top of the situation. Our men are on the ground in Kogi, and I have ordered a comprehensive audit of the situation.”
Twelve inmates had reportedly escaped the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Koton Karfe, Kogi State following an early morning jail break.
The National Spokesperson of the Correctional Service, Abubakar Umar confirmed that all the escapees were Awaiting Trial Inmates, (ATI), noting that two have been captured while efforts were on to arrests the ten others.
He said all search mechanisms had been activated to recapture the fleeing inmates.
His words: “Twelve of the inmates in our custody at the Koton Karfe medium custodial centre have escaped. They are all on awaiting trial but as I speak to you now two have been captured.
“We are already working to capture the remaining inmates on the run.”
Umar however disclosed that one officer was killed in the attack.
