In response to the attack on the Kuje Correctional Complex in early July 2022, the Federal Government said on Thursday that it had prevented a second jailbreak attempt.
This information was made public by the Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, at the 64th State House Ministerial Briefing, which was held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja and hosted by the Presidential Communications Team.
Aregbesola stated that those responsible for the incident had been “sent to their maker,” but he did not clarify which prison he meant.
When asked what the main reason behind the ongoing jailbreaks was, Aregbesola responded, “It is the season. You don’t want to hear it, I know that. Has Nigeria ever experienced what it is experiencing right now? It is global and it is the season.
He added: “Why do we have assassinations in America? Bad as it is, it is horrible, but in America, people get killed every second. In California, within the last week in America, 20 people have been killed. Did you ask why? It has nothing to do with technology; it could even be linked to climate change.
“When things are hard, people who cannot manage their stability resort to those types of things. You can’t say there is no terrorism in Nigeria; we are managing it. You can’t say there is no banditry in Nigeria; we are managing it. It is because of the level of insecurity in Nigeria, and we are arising from it. It is as simple as that.”
The former Osun State Governor also assured Nigerians of measures in place for jailbreakers, saying: So, we are doing our best to ensure that it will be difficult for anybody to attack our facilities. You may not know that some had attempted and we have sent them back to their maker.
“Take it; it is no longer game as usual. We are equipping our men too, on their own, defend those facilities. And those sister agencies are equally upping their capacity to protect and defend our facilities. And we’re improving the design of our facilities to make them almost impregnable.
“So it’s sad; we are not happy that the facilities are being attacked. But it’s a function of the season and we will be deceiving ourselves if we don’t admit it. So we are up for it. Whoever attempts to dare our will, will not live to tell the story,” he threatened.”
Aregbesola furthered: “As of today, there is no single inmate of our facilities that is not captured biometrically and that is the best we can do. We’re still working on DNA, another way to identify them.
“We have met with all agencies and institutions that can use the biometrics we have to trace and arrest them. They are doing their best. The most effective agency in capturing them is still the police force. They are doing wonderfully well. Like I would normally tell people, they can only run; they cannot hide,” he concluded.
