The Federal Government has said the security personnel deployed to man Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) did their best to repel the terrorists’ attack but were subdued.
The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, said this while fielding questions from State House reporters after a briefing on the outcome of the emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister, who said the terrorists succeeded because of their large number and the superior firepower, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the service chiefs to not only ensure that adequate measures were taken after the ongoing probe into the cause of the incident but also to take steps to forestall the reoccurrence of such incidences.
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When asked to explain the reasons why there had been no arrest of the perpetrators 72 hours after the despite the deployment of helicopters to comb the area, Dingyadi said, ‘You see these kind of things. They happen. And I want to assure you that all those who are supposed to play a role in ensuring that the attack is neutralized did the best that they could to neutralize it. I think what helped them (terrorists) was the number of people they came with and the superior weapons that they came with. And because nobody anticipated it, the few people who were there guarding the place could not withstand the number that they came with. I think that was what happened.
‘Like I said, this investigation is still going on. You will only do good to allow the investigation to continue and maybe by the time they finish, you will be able to get the details of what actually happened and why it happened.’
The minister, who said the President expressed deep concern over the recent developments, stated that some of the assailants were killed.
He said: ‘Some of them have been killed. But I can’t give you the number and I don’t know the number. Because like they use to do, whenever one of them is killed, they take the corpse away and you cannot know the number of people who have been killed but definitely quite a number of them were killed and many of them ran way with bullet wounds.
‘Mr. president is surprised that what happened in Kuje actually took place inspite of all the security arrangement that has been made to ensure that such an incident does not happen.
‘We are assuring the nation and Nigerians in general that arrangements have been made to ensure that full investigations are carried out to ensure that a repeat of these incidences will not occur.
‘The service chiefs have been given very clear directives to ensure that adequate measures are taken not only to investigate what happened, but also to take steps to forestall the reoccurrence of such incidences.
‘We call on Nigerians to continue to support the federal government, in its effort to ensure that we fight criminalities to finish and to ensure that this country is brought back to normalcy in a more secure and a more peaceful atmosphere. We are moving toward 2023, and government is committed to ensuring that there’s peace, tranquility to ensure a very credible and a peaceful and transparent elections in Osun State come early next week.’
He said the meeting convened by President Buhari reviewed the security situation in the country, particularly the Kuje jail break as a result of the attacks on the Correctional Center by terrorists, the banditry attack in Katsina, as well as the various attacks on Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.