BY: NewsPeddler
Inmates held at Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja have displayed
serious displeasure and have threatened to protest after officials claimed a
large sum of money the prisoners gave them to keep have been carted away by gunmen
who attacked the facility on Tuesday night.
The money has been with five prison officials, including
those manning the commissary, for several months, officials told People Gazette.
“One prison guard told 13
inmates this afternoon that all the money they kept with him had been stolen,”
an official said. “He bluntly told them that the N26 million is no longer in
his possession.”
Bashir Magashi the defence
minister said all prisoners affiliated with Boko Haram escaped, meanwhile some inmates refused to take advantage of the attack.
The prison, about 43
kilometres from the Aso ruck Abuja, was breached at about 10:00 p.m. by
suspected Boko Haram insurgents. The attack lasted about three hours, without
any intervention by security forces. About 600 inmates escaped in total, however, officials claimed some inmates had voluntarily returned. Barely 24 hours after
the attack, the number of the remained inmate is unclear as of Wednesday evening.
President Muhammadu Buhari
had visited the prison on his way to the airport on a foreign trip to Senegal, Wednesday
afternoon, to see the damage in person, assuring correctional managers of
support.
As the president departed the
scene, prisoners began shouting that they’d lost money during the raid, while
some threatened violence should officials fail to return their cash.
“Yes, that is the problem
we’re confronting now,” an official said when asked for corroboration Wednesday
evening. “Some people lost money in naira while some lost in dollars.”
Officials said the money belong to wealthy inmates
inside the facility.
“It’s those big men that are
more enraged because they kept millions with the warders,” the official said.
“About N82 million was declared missing and four people are looking for
$36,000.”
The prison holds politicians
including former Taraba Governor Jolly Nyame and federal lawmaker Farouk Lawan.
Disgraced police chief Abba Kyari is also an inmate, as well as former pensions
directorate grunt Abdulrasheed Maina.
Mr Kyari said in a recent
letter protesting his protracted incarceration before a federal judge, that he
was funding several activities at Kuje prisons, including monthly cable TV
subscriptions.
SOURCE: PEOPLES GAZETTE