The Federal Government on Friday admitted that the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists who attacked the Correctional Centre, Kuje in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) succeeded because of their large number and the superior fire power compared to the Nigerian defence ad security forces deployed in the prison.
This is even as President Muhammadu Buhari has, as usual, directed the Service Chiefs to ensure that adequate measures are taken not only to investigate what happened at Kuje Prison, but also to take steps to forestall the reoccurrence of such incidences.
Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, said this while responding to questions from journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after the emergency National Security Council meeting presided over by President Buhari that the security personnel deployed to the facility did their best to repel the attack but were subdued by the superior weaponry of the terrorists.
Asked why about 72 hours after attack, despite the fact that helicopters were deployed to comb the environment, no criminal has been rearrested, Dingyadi said:
“You see these kind of things. They happen. And I want to assure you that all those who are supposed to play a role in ensuring that the attack is neutralized did the best that they could to neutralize it. I think what helped them (terrorists) was the number of people they came with and the superior weapons that they came with. And because nobody anticipated it, the few people who are there guarding the place could not withstand the number that they came with. I think that was what happened.
“Like I said, this investigation is still going on. You will only do good to allow the investigation to continue and maybe by the time they finish, you will be able to get the details of what actually happened and why it happened.”
Dingyadi revealed that “some of them (terrorists) have been killed. But I can’t give you the number and I don’t know the number. Because like they use to do, whenever one of them is killed, they take the corpse away and you cannot know the number of people who have been killed but definitely quite a number of them were killed and many of them runway with bullet wounds.”
The Minister said the meeting which was summoned by President Buhari, reviewed the security situation in the country, particularly the Kuje Jail break as a result of the attacks on the Correctional Center by terrorists, the banditry attack in Katsina, as well as the various attacks on Shiroro local government of Niger State.
He noted that the President was deeply concerned about the recent developments, adding: “Mr. President is surprised that what happened in Kuje actually took place inspite of all the security arrangement that has been made to ensure that such an incident does not happen.
“We are assuring the nation and Nigerians in general that arrangements have been made to ensure that full investigations are carried out to ensure that a repeat of these incidences will not occur.
“The Service Chiefs have been given very clear directives to ensure that adequate measures are taken not only to investigate what happened, but also to take steps to forestall the reoccurrence of such incidences.
“We call on Nigerians to continue to support the federal government, in its effort to ensure that we fight criminalities to finish and to ensure that this country is brought back to normalcy in a more secure and a more peaceful atmosphere.”
Daily Sun