Breaking News : 119 inmates escape from Suleja prison

One hundred and nineteen inmates have escaped from the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, in Niger State after a rainstorm wreaked havoc on a part of the facility late yesterday.

“A heavy downpour that lasted for several hours on the night of Wednesday, 24 April 2024, has wreaked havoc on the Medium Security Custodial Centres, Suleja, Niger State, as well as surrounding buildings, destroying a part of the custodial facility, including its perimeter fence, giving way to the escape of a total of one hundred and nineteen (119) inmates of the facility,” the Deputy Superintendent of Corrections Command Public Relations Officer, FCT Command, AS Duza, said in a statement today.

But he said efforts are on the way to recapture the inmates with 10 of them so far retaken into custody, reports Channels TV.

“The Service has immediately activated its recapturing mechanisms, and in conjunction with sister security agencies have so far recaptured 10 fleeing inmates and taken them into custody, while we are in hot chase to recapture the rest,” he said.

According to him, the facilities were built during the colonial era and are old and weak. He, however, said efforts are on to bring the facilities up to date.

“This is evidenced in the ongoing construction of six (6) number of 3000-capacity ultra-modern custodial centres in all the geo-political zones in Nigeria as well as the ongoing reconstruction and renovation of existing ones,” he said, asking the public to provide information and report “any suspicious movement to the nearest security agency”.

The heavy rain around 9 pm destroyed parts of the old Suleja custodial centre. The rainstorm damaged parts of the building and exposed the facility’s inner fence protecting one of the cells where inmates were kept.

A resident of Suleja town Babangida Turaki had told our correspondent that the rains pulled down a part of the fence undergoing repairs.

He said a combined security reinforcement returned some of the escaping prisoners. According to him, the team has been sent to strategic outlets and black spots of Suleja town to arrest the fleeing inmates.

Normalcy has since returned to Suleja town while a search is still ongoing to recover some of the prisoners.