Police, Army foil attempted jailbreak at the Abakaliki prisons

A combined team of the Nigerian Police, Army and other security agencies has foiled an attempted jailbreak at the abakaliki Federal Prisons.

No official figure has been given for number of dead or injured but unconfirmed sources have put the death toll between 6 and 14 including
a prison officer. Both the dead and injured have been taken to the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, FETHA, for medical attention.

According to the Vanguard, The jailbreak attempt began when the prisoners revolted against the poor living conditions which they have been subjected to, most especially in the aspect of feeding which was said to be inadequate and have been going on for a long time.

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 The angry inmates then started rioting inside the prisons, attacking prison officers with every object they could lay their hands on. The prison officers were said to have resisted, shooting and killing several of the inmates while many sustained gunshot wounds.

Investigations reveal that it took the timely arrival of combined team of the Prison officers, Nigeria police and Army drafted to the scene to keep the inmates from escaping having over-powered the prison guards. The timely intervention of the police was attributed to the fact that the prison is located beside the police headquarters.

Reports say that the rioting inmates had already succeeded in creating an opening on the wall before reinforcements arrived and contained the situation using tear gas.

The Commander of Military cantonment and the commissioner of Police were said to have visited the area to direct operations and restore sanity in the prison.

The Controller of Prisons, Mrs Oputa Emilia confirmed the foiled jail break but was sketchy on the number of casualties sustained in the incident although she admitted that the angry prisoners broke part of the fence and assured that the situation has been brought under control.