Nigeria’s Minister of Defence Bashir Magashi has laid the blame for the Tuesday late night attack on Kuje Correctional Centre on Boko Haram.
Magashi, during an inspection of the centre on Wednesday said there about 64 members of the insurgency group being held at the prisons before the Tuesday attack.
The Minister confirmed that of the almost 900 inmates of the centre, about 600 escaped during the melee.
He said however about 300 of them are back in the centre either those who returned voluntarily or those arrested by security agents.
The inspection showed that some vehicles belonging to the correctional facility were burnt down before the attackers made for the interior as they rampaged through the facility in the dead of the night on Tuesday.
At the time of filing this report, about five inmates were killed in the crossfire.
The Minister of Defence also confirmed that an official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps died in the process.
It was learnt that efforts are in top gear to ensure that all the escaping inmates are captured.
Details later…