A total of 907 prisoners escaped from the Abolongo Custodial Centre in Oyo State on Friday night. The prisoners escaped after a gang of gunmen attacked the correctional facility to facilitate the jailbreak. Prison officials said a total of 907 prisoners escaped from the facility and 446 have been recaptured. Security agencies, including the Interpol, have been tasked to hunt down the remaining 392 that are still at large.
According to the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who visited the prison facility, the government will hunt down the attackers who effected the jailbreak as well as the remaining escaped prisoners. He praised prison officials and other security agencies for fighting gallantly to beef up perimeter security when the prison came under heavy attack.
“At the last count, 446 of the escapees have been recaptured leaving 392 still at large,” Aregbesola said. “We want to assure Nigerians that the service has an updated database of the escapees which includes their biometrics. We are sharing the database with all security agencies in the country including the Interpol, so those who escape our recapture efforts can be nabbed.”
The Interior Minister said 69 prisoners refused to escape from the facility after the jailbreak. He said the names of those that escaped will be published in the mass media so that the public can help with their recapture. He said they will all be recaptured, dead or alive, and returned to prison.
“I will need to add that it is a criminal offence, punishable by a jail term, to offer any assistance whatsoever, not even giving a cup of water, to any inmate that escaped from lawful custody,” he stated. “You cannot help them in any way, absolutely, by way of cash, food, clothing, medical care, employment, road direction and any form of help, other than to encourage them to turn themselves in, and report their sighting to law enforcement.”
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State also visited the Abolongo prison facility and said the government has increased its surveillance to recapture the escapees and reconstruct a part of the breached facility. The Deputy Controller-General (Operations) of Prisons, Tukur Muhammad Hamad, also visited the centre to clarify that high-profile prisoners such as Iskilu Wakili and serial killer Sunday Shodipe are not incarcerated at the prison facility.
