The Controller of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed has blamed the Ikot Ekpene Prisons jailbreak in on ‘lapses in the prison facility.’
Fourty inmates escaped the Ikot Ekpene prisons on December 27, 2017, while four of the fleeing inmates died from a gunshot injury, some prison officials sustained injuries. Fourteen of the fleeing inmates were however recaptured.
Ahmed after on the spot assessment tour of the prison said the 28 inmates who are still at large are very hardened criminals including kidnappers awaiting trials, while some are facing capital offences.
READ ALSO: NDLEA Seizes 272 KGs Of Cannabis Sativa In Osun
“The 28 that are at large are very hardened criminals; some of them are kidnappers awaiting trials, some are facing capital offences and therefore it is something to worry about,” he said.
Ahmed said further that the inmates capitalised on lapses in the prison facility to escape and measures will be put in place to prevent a recurrence.
“Ikot Ekpene Prisons is well fortified. The jailbreak is due to lapses on the part of prison staff. About 40 inmates found their way out of Ikot Ekpene Prisons in a broad daylight around about 11:45 am. They took on the lapses that they saw, perhaps they have been planning it for a very long time and actualised it when they saw the opportunity,” he said.
He however assured members of the public that the fleeing inmates would soon be recaptured and made to face the law.
Ahmed visited the prison in company of other senior prisons officials.