BREAKING: 228 prisoners escape as prison building collapsed in Kogi

Heavy downpour on Monday has made way for no fewer than 228 prisoners away from the Medium Federal Correctional Centre located in Koton Karfe local government area of Kogi State, Newsflash247 reports.

It was gathered that heavy downpour on Monday morning in Koton-Karfi causes some parts of the building housing the inmates had collapsed, even as many houses were submerged by the flood.

It was reliably gathered that the rain started at about 2 am on Monday, which created havoc leading to the destruction of some parts the prison building, which gave way for the inmates to escape.

When our correspondent visited the community on Monday, some of the people, who spoke with our reporter, said the rain was very heavy and it fell for several hours.

According him, it was due to the heavy downpour that caused the flood, which affected many houses and the prison building.

The acting Chief Imam of Koton-Karfi Karfi central mosque, Saidu Suleiman Nuhu, who also spoke with our reporter, said river Osugu over flooded its bank and destroyed so many houses including the prison, which led to the escape of some inmates.

However, effort to speak with Prison officers, who visited the scene proved abortive as every where was flooded but source close to the Prison service disclosed that about 228 of the inmates who escaped only 100 have been rearrested by the security agents.

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The source added that the Deputy Controller General of Correctional Service Ahmed Jafaru had visited the place saying government will put everything in place to re-arrest some inmate who are still at large.

Sources close to the prison service however disclosed that about 100 of the inmates who escaped have been rearrested by the security agents.

Our Correspondent who visited the correctional director general’s office did not meet anyone in the office.

Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria reported that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Mr. Jafar Ahmed, confirmed the story while speaking with newsmen in Koton Kafe on Monday.

The CG said the flood came at about 3a.m., submerging the perimeter fence and the walls of two cells.

He said there were 228 inmates at the centre as at the time of the incident.

Ahmed said that the prison was not habitable at present, saying that the re-arrested inmates were being transferred to other prison facilities in the state.

He said that details of the incident will be made public later.

Also speaking, the Security Adviser to the state governor, retired Commodore Jerry Omadara, confirmed that over 100 of the inmates have been re-arrested.

According to him, some of the inmates returned of their own volition, some reported themselves at nearby Police stations, while a combined team of policemen, soldiers, naval officers and civil defence corps rearrested others.

Omodara said the state government was informed of the incident at about 4a.m., adding that Governor Yahaya Bello immediately directed head of security agencies in the state to deploy their personnel to the scene.

He said that 228 inmates escaped, noting that many of them escaped for the safety of their lives.

He said that security agents were still combing the bush to re-arrest some of the fleeing inmates, lamenting that the flood was not making it easy for the prisoners to escape.

He commended the security agencies for their prompt intervention, saying that nobody died in the incident.

(Additional story from NAN)

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