The Kuje
correctional facility was attacked reportedly because the federal government
refused to swap imprisoned insurgents with kidnapped Kaduna-train passengers.
Gunmen had
attacked the Kuje prison facility in the federal capital territory
(FCT) with explosives on Tuesday night, with over 500 inmates said to be at
large.
The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed responsibility for
the attack.
The insurgents had reportedly said they were behind the attack on a Kaduna-bound train in March which resulted in the abduction of several passengers.
According to Daily
Trust, sources said the insurgents attacked the
facility to free their members who were held in prison because the government
was not responsive to their demand.
“They discovered that their demands would not be met and
therefore, they set out for full scale war,” Daily Trust quoted a source as
saying.
The newspaper quoted another source as saying intelligence
reports were provided to the police days before the attack, but the warning was
ignored.
“Sadly, there are
moles everywhere and therefore, even though the security operatives were
alerted, the terrorists had their way,” the source was quoted as saying.
“And that is why they perpetrated the nefarious act with
precision. Some of them distracted attention of the security operatives by
detonating many explosives outside the facility after destroying the main
entrance, which gave a different group task with the responsibility of bringing
out their members unfettered access.
“Those that gained access went straight to the cells where
the Boko Haram members were incarcerated and set them free. There was no
serious resistance.
“Those freed would definitely unsettle Nigeria’s security
architecture; they would disrupt peace unless something is done. And as
you can see, the VIP section was not compromised because those incarcerated
there were not their targets.”
The newspaper added that two police officers have been
arrested for allegedly compromising security.
“Two of the terrorists that escaped called a police
investigation officer (IPO) in one of our stations and spoke to him in a
compromising manner. They are now being investigated to know their level of
complicity,” a source reportedly said.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com