Gunmen believed to be terrorists have attacked Kuje Medium Prison, Abuja on Tuesday night.
The prison came under heavy bombardments by unknown terrorists, throwing the entire area Council into confusion.
According to reports, the first explosion, a high capacity bomb, went off around 10.25pm. It was followed by second and third blast and sporadic gunshots that left the residents scampering into safety.
Few hours earlier, security report had alerted the prison officials of possible attacks of the medium prison.
A prison staff, who confirmed the attack explained that the attackers had come from the back of the prison yard.
According to the prison official at the Kuje Correctional Center, Abuja, over 150 terrorists were freed on Tuesday night after the center came under heavy bombardment
The suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, and other top inmates are safe after the attack.
It was gathered that while many inmates took advantage of the chaos as the military and other security agents guarding the facility took to their heels, Kyari and his men who have been standing trial for alleged money laundering and sundry offences refused to escape.
At least 150 inmates are believed to have escaped during the attack, including terrorists and other hardened criminals.
But Kyari, who was recently remanded in prison, did not escape, a prison official said.
“The Kuje prison was completely taken over for more than 2 hours by the invading terrorists. All Soldiers and prisons officers escaped. For more than 2 hours no reinforcement came.”
“All doors were broken by the terrorist and every criminal has escaped. Only people that are not criminals, those with less than 3 months to be released and important people like Abba Kyari and his men, former governor Jolly Nyame, Farouk Lawan and some few senior citizens refused to escaped even after the terrorist have opened all the doors for everybody to escape within the 3 hours operations.”
“All terrorist in the prison have been rescued.
“All the major, biggest terrorist, armed robbers and kidnapper have escaped.”
He added that, “Terrorist ordered everybody to escaped. Some terrorists asked of (name withheld) that they want to kill him in the crowd, but they were told he had escaped too.
“….and his men refused to escape.
They remained behind, that they are not criminals.
“The Prison door is still open. People are still escaping.
“No reinforcement came, 2 hours after attack.
“Nobody came for assistance.
Kuje correctional center completely taken over and all criminals and terrorists have escaped,” he said in the chat.
“Terrible situation in Nigeria. Serious solution is needed.
“Over 150 terrorists members and commanders rescued.
“We were told that his men not to follow their roommates and escape that they should stay.”
An inmate (name withheld) said, “I refused to run because I have 3 months remaining for my sentence to end.”
However another official who recounted details of the unfortunate said there was an intelligent report that “the prison facility will be under attack but it was taken like a joke “
He added that, “No one knew the attack will come from the back but in such an audacious manner where for over three hours, over 300 terrorists will take over the facility unleashing RPGs and GPMGs.”
“RPGs are rocket propelled grenades while GPMGs are general-purpose machine guns. These are advanced weapons of war usually not available for private use especially the GPMG, that’s an air-cooled machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns.
“These were the weapons deployed by these terrorists who used them freely running around and kicking open prison cells and ordering prisoners including 150 terrorists to escape,” the official said under condition of anonymity.
He said the attack started around 10:30pm.
“Only God saved us today. For over 2 hours and 45 minutes, more than 300 terrorists took over the Kuje prison in Abuja with GPMGs, Bombs, RPGs, many rifles etc It’s God that saved us.
“The total population of the Kuje Prison inmates is about 1,476, and only 111 of the inmates refused to escape and decided to remain in the prison as 90 percent of the inmates escaped.
“Those that decided not to escape include former Governor Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, Farouk Lawal, Abba Kyari and 4 of his officers, retired AVM and also 107 other inmates whose jail terms remain less than 3 months and some who are innocent of the allegations on them, with few other good Senior Citizens,” he stated.
Nyame and some others were several months ago pardoned by the Nigerian Government but are awaiting finalisation of their pardon before being released.
They came through the back in a co-ordinated manner. Four bombs went out the same time.One from the back,” he explained.
He said the bombs ripped open the back of the facility blowing away the high fence and completely exposed the prison.
“Then, as soldiers and other security guards began to run, you could see them coming through the back like people on carnival.
“We were hiding and praying with other inmates. We became friends.
“They laid bombs in front of the prison to prevent re-enforcement from the prison and stationed over 10 close to the front gate to shoot at anyone coming,” he further explained.
“When they finished their operation and released all those they came to release, they shot their way out through the back before we came out.
“By 2am, some officials returned and did the roll call to discover the numbers missing and the numbers remaining,” he added.
The official warned that, “Any press release that tells you there are more than 111 inmates in Kuje prison today is completely false. All persons that volunteered to remain behind were counted by 2am today and the total is 111 persons.
“Expect the usual false press releases this morning from the security agencies trying to defend themselves and mislead Nigerians and the president.
“As usual will be to mislead Nigerians and the President to show that these major security agencies are working when they don’t have any capacity as they couldn’t detect or prevent these type of massive attack and many others that happened in the recent fast.
“The National assembly or the presidency should send strong delegation to come and count the people remaining in Kuje prison now which is less than 10 percent as over 90 percent of the prisoners have escaped,
“The security architecture of Nigeria needs major overhaul. How can over 300 terrorists plan big operation like this and attack a Prison facility inside Abuja federal capital territory and escape successfully with over 1300 rescued Prisoners without security agencies getting intelligence before the attack or even preventing the attack when it came.”the official stated
It was suspected that terrorists had launched a ferocious attack on the prison which triggered a fire-fight with security forces.
The Kuje Correctional Center has had a history of terrorists launching attacks to free colleagues detained there or serving prison sentence.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW:
Kuje Prison In Abuja Under Bomb Attack pic.twitter.com/uSJRDrT6YX
— DAILY GIST (@dailygistonline) July 6, 2022
