The Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has vowed that the Federal government will pursue and recapture all inmates who escaped from the Abolongo Custodial Centre of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) on Friday night during a vicious attack on the facility by yet-to-be-identified gunmen.
The Minister gave the assurance whilst making an inspection visit to the facility on Sunday.
He urged residents and people of the state not to offer any form of assistance in terms of material or support to the escapees warning that doing such is against the law and could attract sanction.
He however added that rather those who note suspicious movement should report to nearest security operatives.
He also advised the escaped inmates to return to custody with the assurance that government will not prosecute them for their unlawful escape but crimes that brought them to the prison in the first place.
He said: “I’m assuring Nigerians that the Federal Government will pursue not just those who attacked our facility, but those who have escaped lawful custody.
“The attack was unconscionable, I commend officers of the Nigeria Correctional Service and other members of sister security agencies who provided perimeter security for our facility for fighting gallantly and holding the fort before the attackers were able to gain access to the awaiting trial section of the facility, however, those who escaped are already being pursued. Some have been rearrested, many more will still be captured,” the Minister stated.
Giving more details about those who escaped, Aregbesola noted 446 out of 907 escapees have been recaptured while 69 never left the facility.
He added: “As at the last count, 446 of the escapees have been recaptured leaving 392 still at large. We want to assure Nigerians that the service have an updated database of the escapees which includes their biometrics.
“We are sharing the database with all security agencies in the country including the Interpol, so those who escape our recapture efforts can be nabbed.
“To those on the run, be assured you have nowhere to hide. You can run, but you can’t hide. We’ll fish you out! We are publishing details of those we escaped in the mass media so the public can assist in that effort.”
On the effort to rebuild the damaged part of the facility, the Minister noted that he has directed the NCoS, to immediately begin remediation work.
