Jos Prison Break: The unanswered questions

The jailbreak that took place at the Jos Prison in Plateau State on Sunday, November 28, was the fifth of such incidence in the last two years, raising a question as to how secure Nigerian prisons really are.

Whenever these jailbreaks occur, hundreds of inmates are freed and let loose into the larger society, and though the authorities of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) would blow hot and vow to recapture all the inmates, success has often eluded them.

A countdown will look thus:

On October 19, 2020, as the country was engulfed in the #EndSARS protest that rocked the entire country, heavily armed gunmen in their hundreds, simultaneously attacked two correctional facilities in Benin City and Oko, Edo State, setting free about 1,933 inmates.

On Easter Sunday, precisely April 4, 2021, unknown gunmen, armed with sophisticated weapons, attacked the Owerri Correctional Center facility and set free a whopping 1,844 inmates, and though the authorities of the NCoS claimed that majority of them had been recaptured, Nigerians are yet to be convinced.

Some of the escapees had even found their ways to neighbouring countries as six of them were reportedly arrested as they tried to sneak into Ghana. Twelve of the escapees were also said to have been arrested as they tried to sneak into Benin Republic.

Again, on September 12, 2021, not less than 240 inmates of the Medium Security Correctional Center in Kabba, Kogi State, escaped when gunmen invaded the facility. A few days later, the NSoC claimed that 114 of the escaped inmates had been recaptured.

This was to be followed by another attack on October 22, 2021, at the Okitipupa Prison in Ondo State where about 58 inmates were freed. Till date, there has been no record of any re-arrest of the escaped inmates.

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It was the turn of the Abolongo Correctional Center in Oyo Town, Oyo State, on October 22, 2021, when gunmen broke into the facility with little or no resistance, and freed the hundreds of inmates.

Again, the authorities, led by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, while on an inspection tour of the Abolongo Prison, admitted that 907 inmates had escaped and vowed that all the escapees would be arrested and brought back to the facility.

“From a headcount that we took, 907 inmates had escaped but 446 have been recaptured, while 69 never left the facility. I want to tell the fleeing inmates that for their own good, they should retrace their steps and go back to the Correctional Center before we go after them as that would be bad for them,” Aregbesola said

Among those said to have escaped from the facility was the notorious Fulani warlord, Iskilu Wakili, who was said to be the brain behind the killing of residents of Isheyin and Eruwa towns, before he arrested.

Another prominent inmate who escaped from the Abolongo Prison was self-confessed serial killer, Sunday Shodipe, and till date, no one is sure if the two gangsters have been rearrested.

Beyond the prison breaks that have rocked Nigerian in the past two years, the jailbreak that occurred at the Jos facility is one that will, perhaps, raise a lot of questions going by the fact the facility is by far, one of the most secure prisons in the country.

For those who do not know the Plateau State capital city or are not very conversant with the inner towns, the Jos Prison is surrounded by facilities belonging to security agencies and as such, should be well fortified.

The Zonal Headquarters of the Directorate of State Service (DSS) and the Plateau State Police Command Headquarters borders the prison from the rear, while a police barracks and the State Police ‘A’ Division Headquarters are to the west of the prison.

The Headquarters of the State Task Force (STF), codenamed Operation Safe Have, is located about kilometer from the Jos Prison, a distance of not more than five minutes, while the Plateau State High Court Complex, with its array of security personnel, lies just a few meters from the prison.

Ordinarily, the Jos Prison should be a really safe center, and not a place where misguided miscreants would find joy in invading, and in broad daylight.

For the gunmen to infiltrate such an area and attack a prison at a location known to be a no go area for ordinary civilians who have no business there, is something Nigerians and the government should interrogate seriously.

Shortly after the jailbreak became public knowledge, the spokesman of the Nigerian Custodial Centre, Francis Enobore, released a statement where he claimed that some of the gunmen were “trapped within the Medium Security Custodial Center, after invading the facility following a reinforcement of security personnel.”

As Nigerians looked forward to a total annihilation of the supposed trapped criminals, Enobore, apparently realizing that he could not hide the truth anymore, issued another statement, admitting that nine of the inmates were killed in the cross fire, and that one gunman also died

He said: “One of the gunmen who was trapped within the Medium Security Custodial Center, Jos, after invading the facility has been identified as one of those killed in the gun duel.

“Sadly, one of our armed squad personnel paid the supreme price in the encounter, while nine inmates also lost their lives.

“Another staff of the Service was shot in the hand and six inmates were also injured in the attack.

“Meanwhile, some of the attackers and a total of 262 inmates escaped in the melee before reinforcement could come from sister services.

However, 10 have so far been recaptured leaving 252 at large.”

The Controller-General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, also came out with a statement, stressing that all the “perpetrators of the incident would be hunted and made to face the full wrath of the law.”

Beyond the rhetorics, it is clear that Nigerian prison authorities had always attempted to sell lies to Nigerians to cover up their inefficiencies.

Indeed, in the case of Jos prison break, it turned out that the claim of trapped gunmen was a blatant lie. Those mauled by security agents were actually prison inmates!

And, for whatever it was worth, ninety-nine percent of the supposed gunmen also escaped in the “gun battle with gallant officers.”