Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has ordered an immediate probe into the unfortunate prison break incident at the Koton Karfe Correctional Centre in Kogi State.
The Minister described the incident as unfortunate, and vowed to ensure all fleeing inmates were captured leveraging the service’s robust biometrics and 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.
Reports said that the incident occurred early Monday morning.
Confirming the report to journalists, National Spokesperson of the Service, Abubakar Umar, said that all the escapees were Awaiting Trial Inmates, (ATI), noting that two har been captured while efforts were on to arrests the ten others.
He said all search mechanisms had been activated to recapture the fleeing inmates.
He said: “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 lamented that one officer was killed in the attack.
