The Kogi State government, Northcentral Nigeria, has blamed political saboteurs and terrorists for recent security breaches recorded in parts of the state.
Specifically, the government alleged that Monday’s jailbreak at Kabba Medium Security Correctional Facility was as a result of top Boko Haram Commanders and other high profile suspects who were brought to the centre and their colleagues decided to strike to free them.
Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, told journalists in Lagos on Friday that the government received an intelligence report of planned attacks on facilities in the State and that action was immediately taken including the deployment of 20 soldiers to beef up security at the Kabba Correctional Centre.
According to the Commissioner, “there was intelligence before that attack and we worked on it quickly by informing the necessary agencies who assured that security would be tightened there. At the time of the attack, there were supposed to be more than 20 military personnel at that point.
“The other factor that led to that attack was because there were high profile criminals held there. Our security agencies will have to do more in dealing with these issues. When you keep Boko Haram suspects or those that have been convicted in such a place, you should know that their collaborators will want to do everything possible to set them free not only for the sake of solidarity, but they know that the more the inmates are with you, the more information you are going to have about their activities.
“Everyone in Nigeria today knows Kogi State is one of the safest states. It is not that we do not have flashes of crimes here and there; it is that we have a system that can deal with that promptly and adequately.
“I will not want to give details of the intelligence here but we know that there are certain politicians who are desperately mobilising criminals to foment trouble in Kogi State so that they will say ‘is that not the man they call best in security’? The state is being disturbed by criminals, so what will he flaunt again?
“We are not crying here; we are solidly on top of our security game. So, we are expecting them and will deal with the situation accordingly,” he said.
Fanwo said the State government has learnt vital lessons from the jailbreak that would propel it to review, rejig its security architecture to fashion out ways it can deploy personnel to secure federal agencies.
Giving details of steps taken by Governor Yahaya Bello to rewrite Kogi’s security story, Fanwo said the government in 2016 purchased 240 patrol vehicles to empower agencies who before then, could not patrol the 21 local government areas (LGAs).