No fewer than three persons, including a soldier, an inmate and an Amotekun Corps member lost their lives, while many others were critically injured as unknown gunmen invaded Medium Security Custodial Centre, Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Abolongo, Oyo town in Oyo State.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that the security personnel that died or injured were attached to the Correctional Centre to provide security. The soldier was attached to Operation Burst. A pick-up van, belonging to Operation Burst, which is a joint security network of Oyo State, was sighted at Abolongo riddled with bullets just as bloodstain was seen in the vehicle.
But the inmate that lost his life during the commotion reportedly tried to scale the fence of the centre, but could not make it as he landed on the ground on the other side of the fence.
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It was gathered that the attackers used grenades and other explosives to gain access into the awaiting trial section of the facility before setting free many of the awaiting trial inmates. But the other sections of the facilities were said to have been left untouched.
According to reports, a total of 837 inmates were freed by the gunmen that came in large numbers on motorcycles. But as at the time of filing this report, the authorities of the NCS disclosed that a total of 262 escapees had been recaptured, while 575 of them are still at large.
However, some of the escaped inmates reportedly returned to the centre by themselves. One of them was said to have come back with bread and beans, saying: ‘I know that with what happened, there will not be good for us for some days. This is why I went out to get food so that I will not starve.’
The Controller of Corrections, NCS, Oyo State Command, Mr Noel Ailewon, who initially spoke through the command’s spokesperson, Olanrewaju Anjorin, said that journalists were not allowed entry into the facility because the place was being treated as a crime scene.
Two among the high profile inmates, remanded at Abolongo Custodial Centre, are the alleged territorial warlord and kidnapping kingpin of Ibarapa area of the state, Iskilu Wakili, and the suspected serial killer that terrorised many communities in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state between May and August 2020, Sunday Sodipe.
But the authorities of the NCS in the state said that they would not mention names of the inmates, adding that high profile inmates ‘are still in the cells.’
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
