Say fleeing inmates on vengeance missions, won’t return
We’re upping our game – Aregbesola
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Nigeria’s fragile security situation has been compounded in recent times by the series of jailbreaks across the country. Experts and analysts believed that escaped inmates might have made up their minds to vent their anger, frustrations and ordeal on hapless Nigerians, who they regard without distinction as their enemies.
And have therefore, urged Nigerians to be suspicious of strange faces around them and design for themselves means of protection in case of attacks. The experts further warned that as the yuletide approaches, crime rates may surge owing to illegal infiltration of prison escapees in the society.
Jailbreaks so far
Since October 2020 when hoodlums took advantage of the #ENDSARS protest to attack three Nigerian Correctional Service facilities in Edo and Ondo States, releasing over 2,000 inmates and killing about a dozen security agents manning the facilities, the country has continued to witness more incidents of prison breaks.
At least 2,051 inmates escaped after the October 2020 jailbreaks in both states while some of the inmates voluntarily returned. After these, no fewer than 12 jailbreaks have been recorded with six coming out successfully.
In April, this year, a total of 1,844 prisoners were freed when gunmen attacked another correctional facility in Owerri, Imo State. The attackers also razed the Imo State Police Command headquarters situated in Owerri and burnt almost all the vehicles parked at the command headquarters.
In September 2021, no fewer than 250 inmates of Kabba correctional centre in Kogi State were freed by armed hoodlums while two security personnel were killed in the process. Also, in October, Abolongo Custodial Centre in Oyo State was attacked by gunmen and 837 inmates were freed. According to the prison authority, 262 escaped inmates had been recaptured while 575 were still on the loose.
About a month after, another jailbreak occurred at the Jos Medium Security Custodial Centre on November 28, where 262 inmates escaped and no fewer than 10 security operatives were killed in the attack said to have been carried out by bandits.
4,860 inmates escaped prisons in the last one year – Aregbesola
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, at a recent press briefing at the Aso Villa, admitted that 4,860 inmates of the Nigerian correctional centres have escaped from those facilities between 2020 and 2021 alone following successful jailbreaks in Benin, Owerri, and Oyo, among others.
Aregbesola said only 954 of that number have been rearrested. That was before the recent jailbreak at the Jos Medium Security Custodial Centre, which resulted in nine fatalities and escape of 252 inmates. The 252 on the loose are apart from the 10 rearrested.
Menace signifies danger for Nigerians – Experts
Speaking during an exclusive interview with The Point, a security expert, Akin Adeyi, said the illegal return of criminals to the society portends great dangers to the nation’s security, adding that crime rates have increased since October last year.
Adeyi also dismissed the possibility of the fleeing inmates returning to confinement saying that Nigerian Correctional Centres have become cesspit of corrupt practices by prison officials. He claimed that most jailbreaks were aided by ‘insiders’ adding that operatives of correctional facilities should also be called to question.
With the presence of prison escapees, the security expert put Nigerians on red alert and informed them that they are not safe. He noted that some of the freed inmates are known by politicians and they would use them for hooliganism and rigging ahead of the forthcoming elections.
He said, “The first thing that should readily come to the mind of every Nigerian is that ‘I am not in a safe and free society’. So, I should be very careful; I should be suspicious of anything around me and when I see something, I should say something. Even when they (security agencies) might not be able to do something tangible at times but at the same time, still, tell the authorities. And then, put in place, for yourself, whatever you know, whatever your knowledge can afford as your security. The best form of security is the security you design for yourself and the one you monitor by yourself. Let them not rest or put their hope on the government for 100 percent solutions to their security problems. With that, we will have a perfect society. Everybody should know that it’s their duty to secure themselves because the government has failed them. We pay for everything in Nigeria. We pay for water, education, roads, electricity and everything. So, why not pay for your security.”
Adeyi, while lamenting the recent menace of jailbreaks, said, “The recent jail breaks in Nigeria portend great dangers to the already poor security of the nation. Jailbreaks and jail attacks are not good for the country. There is a reason for keeping most of these inmates in prisons and this is because they were considered dangerous to be in the society. And now, the same people that we kept behind bars simply because of the dangers or nuisance they constitute in the society, they are now back to the society. And most of them are back with the mind of vengeance; they want to vent their anger on the system that put them where they have been for several years.
“The first thing that should readily come to the mind of every Nigerian is that ‘I am not in a safe and free society’. So, I should be very careful; I should be suspicious of anything around me and when I see something, I should say something. Even when they (security agencies) might not be able to do something tangible at times but at the same time, still, tell the authorities
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“So, there is no doubt of their connection to the rising insecurity in the country. It amounts to an increase in the level of criminalities in the society because whatever might have taken them there (prisons), they are back to the society with more evil deeds. Most of them have gone to prison to learn bad things.
“We heard the story of one that broke a jail then and he went straight to the house of the person that gave testimonies in court and he killed the person. So, how many of these cases do we know? Nobody can say. So, it’s not a good thing that these fleeing inmates are back in society. Especially when we have elections ahead, some of them will be potential tools in the hands of the politicians. They have no job and what they know best is what has taken them to prison. Now, they will have a field day because the politicians will be ready to make use of them because they know them.”
He flayed Aregbesola for refusing to resign over the jailbreaks and attacks saying that the call by the Minister that state governors should sign death warrants of condemned criminals instigated the menace.
“It could be very shameful that he (Aregbesola) is not considering resignation. He would have been the first in Africa to resign because the people are calling for his resignation because of poor performance in office. It is unAfrican, it is unNigerian and unlike this particular character, Aregbe, former governor of Osun State, we all know him. If I want to say it without exaggeration, I will say he (Aregbesola) even called for this entire thing (jail breaks) when he said ‘those people that are awaiting trial should be speedily tried while those on death sentence should be executed;’ nobody will hear that and wouldn’t want to leave the system. That statement formed part of it.
“They (inmates) thought they were going to be killed. And they access information now in the prisons. They have radios and phones. So, most of them will think we have a notorious Minister who is not ready to spare us, let’s think of a way of getting out.’ And these people have people outside and once they heard that news, they would want to free their people that are there. So, he (Aregbesola) aggravated the situation. Even if these people were considering jailbreaks before, the statement would go a long way in spurring them. So, when you want to talk tough at times, you need to consider the implications of what he said.”
“To keep inmates safe and free in jail requires more comfort than the security apparatus that might be provided. When the inmates are contended there, when the living condition is human, they think less of getting out. When the situation is not conducive, it becomes worse and they become desperate to get out. So, we should look inward at how comfortable and habitable those prisons are. That’s one, and how well fortified are the prisons, that’s two. Then, we should review the kind of protection that we are giving our prison system. We should build our security from the inward to the outward instead of outward to inward that we are using now. Then, we should lay less emphasis on physical security. The world has moved on and faster ahead of this kind of physical security that we are using in this country. We should think less of physical security and emphasise more on technological security.
“The kinds of people we have in the jail now are people that are vast in technology. People that went to the university, one way or the other, took to crime. People that studied in the university that can improvise drones; we are keeping them in a jail that was built in 1960, Keeping people in this modern world, in jails built in the 60s is an error. With the inmates’ knowledge of technology, building and civil engineering; and you can see all these jailbreak movies available on the internet and everywhere. We should follow the trend of the modern world. We should not take for granted the knowledge of inmates. The fact that they are prisoners does not remove their sense of technology, physics, chemistry and natural talents sometimes.”
Corrupt practices of prison officials and how insiders aid jailbreaks
Adeyi described the Nigerian Correctional Centres as headquarters of corruption, adding that most jailbreaks were aided from those within the facilities.
These insiders, according to the security expert, can be prison officials or inmates themselves.
He said, “It could be very difficult for people to carry out attacks on a jail without the instincts of the insiders. These inmates have access to mobile phones. Go to Agodi Prison in Ibadan, the inmates will be communicating with the people outside without even the use of mobile phones. They talk directly to themselves through the walls. And from the prison which they are in, they will buy Indian hemp, drugs of any kind from outside and their sellers will throw them over the wall. There is always this culpability of the prison officials. They are anything that goes for money. If you have money, you can get anything through the prison wardens.
“The high profile inmates don’t sleep in the prison. They sleep in hotels or their houses and it’s per your strength of payment that will determine your comfort. Most of these high profile prisoners sleep in their houses. You remember Major Al-Mustapha when he was in prison, in Ikoyi, Kirikiri maximum prison; he had a child and went for the naming ceremony and everything. He impregnated his wife, had a child while in prison and even maintained a football club there. To maintain a football club while in prison means you will be having access to your bank account.
Some of them don’t eat the food prepared in the prison. We are more or less budgeting money for prison officers. The foods go to the houses of prison officials before they will come and give the prisoners the leftovers. Nigerian Prison is the headquarters of corruption. If you go there, it’s another world entirely. Many corrupt practices are going on there daily. With money, you can get whatever you want there. Have you heard of the situations where prison officials will be rushing for high profile personalities to be remanded or sentenced in their facility? When detainees of prisons are going, you will see prison officials crying because of the money they have been getting through exploitation. When they bring a new one that is high profile, you see them celebrating.”
On whether escapees will ever return
The security expert dismissed the charge by Aregbesola calling on fleeing inmates to return to custodies. He said Nigeria has terrible prison facilities and that no inmate is comfortable staying there.
“How do you expect a prisoner to return to a poor, solitary, difficult, punitive and the most terrible confinement? What are their (government) tactics that would bring one back even if you are a Pope, Bishop or Chief Imam of your place, you wouldn’t want to return there,” Adeyi said.
Also speaking during an exclusive interview, Ayo Ologun, a security analyst, said the inability of security forces to re-arrest fleeing inmates portends great danger to the masses. He said since escaped prisoners cannot return to their families, they would take to crimes as means of livelihood.
Ologun attributed the rise in criminal activities to free movements of criminals and warned Nigerians to be alert and be more security conscious.
He said, “Some of the functions of the correctional facilities is to encourage sentenced inmates to turn a new leaf while others sentenced to death are kept to avoid them committing suicide or becoming a menace to the society. When such inmates in their hundreds now find their way to the society and refuse to return to custody, then the society is in grave danger.
“With the recent breaks of the correctional centres, it is definitely responsible for the rise in insecurities in the country. For one, most of the escaped inmates need to survive as many of them cannot return to their families and since survival instinct is a basic instinct, many of them need to further rely on crime and criminal activities to survive. Also, some of the inmates will be on revenge missions to either punish perceived enemies or those they think were responsible for their travails. The inability of the security forces to have the escaped inmates arrested and on time too portends a grave danger to the society and everyone needs to be concerned.”
Aregbesola in the eye of the storm
Aregbesola has come under heavy criticisms over the incessant jailbreaks and the inability of his ministry to secure correctional centres and tackle allegations of bribery and corruption among prison officials.
As the one who heads the Ministry and sees to the activities of the Nigeria Correctional Service (formerly Nigeria Prisons Service), Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State, has been asked to resign for failing in his critical roles.
The Special Adviser on Education to the Osun Governor, Jamiu Olawumi, had accused Aregbesola of being seriously distracted from doing his job by the crises in the Osun State All Progressives Congress.
Speaking on a radio programme in Osogbo, Olawumi said,”What is happening in Osun State is also affecting the Federal Government. How many prisoners have we lost to the crowd? Over 4000. We have never had it so bad in Nigeria because he has distracted himself with happenings in Osun. The Minister for Interior is distracted. He has capacity but he is distracted. Prisoners are jumping fences and he is helpless. He is distracted by the crisis he is instigating in Osun. In this crisis, you cannot find any masquerade behind it other than Ogbeni Aregbesola.”
“With the recent breaks of the correctional centres, it is definitely responsible for the rise in insecurities in the country. For one, most of the escaped inmates need to survive as many of them cannot return to their families and since survival instinct is a basic instinct, many of them need to further rely on crime and criminal activities to survive
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Also, the Human Rights Writers Association, recently petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari linking the poor security at the correctional centres and consequent jailbreaks to the alleged misuse of the personnel of the NSCDC for political gains in Osun State, allegedly by Aregbesola, when the situation in the country demanded a beef-up of security around the correctional centres.
In the petition, which was made available to newsmen at a press conference addressed in Abuja by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said, “We wish to draw your attention to the clear and unambiguous symptom of a failed leadership in the Ministry of Interior due to political distraction on the side of the Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the need for the Minister to be called to order or asked to quit and face local Osun State politics.”
We are upping our game – Aregbesola
Meanwhile, Aregbesola has said he will not resign despite the calls, following recurring jailbreaks across the country in the past one year.
Aregbesola, who spoke at the end of the weekly virtual Federal Executive Council which was held at the State House, Abuja, declared that the calls in some quarters for his resignation were not necessary.
“As to whether it calls for my resignation, I still don’t see any need for that because it’s not for lack of preparedness that the attacks were successful,” Aregbesola said.
The Minister, however, assured that the government was making efforts to step up security around the correctional centres especially following the jailbreaks in Owerri, Oyo, Kabba and Jos in the last few months.
“What I can assure Nigerians is this. Yes, as contextual as these attacks and the successes such criminals are having, we are upping our game and we will prevent any such opportunistic attack and even make it impossible. And that is what the state must do.
“We are working with all arms of government, particularly the security to make our custodial facilities impregnable. We will not rest until that is achieved. That’s the assurance I want to give Nigerians.”
Efforts to speak with the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, were unsuccessful.
Mba, a Commissioner of Police, neither picked his call nor responded to messages on what the police are doing to re-arrest some of the fleeing inmates.
