Ikot Ekpene jailbreak
On Wednesday December 27, 2017 some 36 dangerous inmates escaped from the Ikot Ekpene Prison in Akwa Ibom State after attacking the personnel on duty. The Public Relations Officer of the Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigerian Prisons Service, ASP Ogbajie J. Ogbajie in a statement said there was an attack on the kitchen […]
On Wednesday December 27, 2017 some 36 dangerous inmates escaped from the Ikot Ekpene Prison in Akwa Ibom State after attacking the personnel on duty. The Public Relations Officer of the Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigerian Prisons Service, ASP Ogbajie J. Ogbajie in a statement said there was an attack on the kitchen staff that were on duty at the Ikot Ekpene prison. The attackers, he said, “seized an axe from fellow inmates attached to the kitchen, inflicting deep cuts on the leader of the inmates. The attacking prisoners immediately made for the rear entrance of the prison yard. They broke the door with the axe and engaged the prison staff that went after them in a rough fight.”
Ogbajie added, “At the end of the scuffle, four of the assaulting inmates that sustained injuries from gunshots lost their lives while 7 were re-arrested. However, 36 of the prisoners are still at large.” The PRO added that search parties have since been activated to effect their recapture. He also said the Controller of Prisons of the Akwa Ibom State Command, Alex Oditah, has ordered an investigation into the incident. He said the Controller has appealed to the public to assist prison authorities with useful intelligence that will lead to the recapture of the fleeing prisoners.
It would be recalled that two notorious kidnappers standing trial for abducting, raping and killing Mrs. Edith Chinedu Aliyu escaped in a daring jailbreak from the Medium Security Prison at Kuje, Abuja in June 2016. The two inmates, Maxwell Ajukwu and Solomon Amodu, used a plank to scale the high wall of the prisons when Muslim inmates were breaking their Ramadan fast at about 7pm.
Without pre-empting the outcome of investigation on the recent incident, the attack carried out by inmates at the Ikot Ekpene Prison suggests a well-orchestrated plan. Dangerous prisoners awaiting trial should not have been kept at the prison yard they escaped from. They should, for reasons of secure custody, have been remanded at the Kikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos. Each time there is a jailbreak, we are reminded of some of its remote causes. Reports in the recent past have shown that many inmates in Nigerian prisons are suspects awaiting trial. Suspects remain on trial for too long either because of needless adjournments by the presiding judge or due to poor handling of the case by the prosecutingpolice officer.
When cases take too long to dispose of, trials suffer certain consequences; the worst of which is prison congestion. Overcrowded prison cells are a serious threat to the security of prison yards. Such provides chances for detainees to conspire to mastermind and hatch their escape plans. Judges could help to reduce the incidence of jailbreaks in Nigeria by decongesting the country’s prisons. The Chief Judge of every state should pay periodic visits to prison yards with a view to instant disposal of cases in which suspects have been on trial for too long.
To equally forestall congestion in the prisons, prosecuting police officers are advised to prepare their case files promptly and accurately in order to avert the consequences of their reposting to another State Command or the risk of missing the case file. While we urge the Minister of Interior to set up an investigative committee to probe the jail break at the Ikot Ekpene Prison, we urge prison wardens to be extra-vigilant while on duty. The Nigeria Prisons Service should, as a matter of urgency, heighten security in terms of personnel and equipment in all prison yards across the country.
It is important for prison authorities to reinforce and close all the security gaps which escapee prisoners from the Ikot Ekpene Prison took advantage of. We encourage the Nigeria Prisons Service to collaborate with other security agencies including the police and the DSS so that the escapees who are now at large are apprehended without delay.