The attempted jailbreak at Kuje Prison, Abuja, Monday, has been brought under control.
Spokesman for the Nigerian Prisons Service, Francis Enmore, said the situation is now calm as the uprising had been brought under control.
The Comptroller of Prisons, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Daniel Odahro explained it was not a jailbreak.
“There was a minor riot at the Kuje Prison, but the situation has been brought under control”, he said.
He explained that a ‘disagreement’ ensued at about 10.30am on Monday, when some inmates resisted the routine search in their cells.
Odahro said the situation was subsequently brought under control by the security operatives on duty and that no inmate escaped from the facility.
He dismissed the claims that inmates were shot and insisted that the situation had been completely taken care of.
“There was nothing like an attempted jail break, yes we had a minor disagreement between prison officials and some inmates, who refused the routine morning search in their cells,
“I can categorically tell you that no inmate escaped and the situation has been brought under control,” he said.
Odahro said security had been beefed up in and around the prison to forestall a recurrence.
He said that measures taken during the riot were to forestall any ugly incident, especially given the fact that there was a recent jailbreak in the same prison.
His words, “Nobody was shot at. Nobody was hurt. What happened was that there was a threat from one of the cells in the robbery section of the prison where one or two inmates resisting search by prison officers who were conducting search on the inmates.
“It was not the whole prison that was involved. It was just a section. Searching is a normal routing in all prisons, worldwide.
“We have had to take measures to forestall any form of ugly incident, especially as you would remember that there was a recent incident in the same prison.
“I can assure you that there is normalcy in the prison, as we speak. In fact the inmates who were involved have apologised for their unruly behaviour. We have also told the inmates that they should relax. Searching is a daily routine.
“Inmates who were due for courts had been conveyed to courts before the incident. “
Earlier Monday there were reports of confusion at the prison as there was attempted jailbreak.
Since the last jailbreak about three months ago prison wardens are said to have taken drastic actions to forestall a repeat. This had led to constant lock up, without a breathing space for inmate any more.
At every opportunity the wardens display hard approach to issues affecting the inmates.
A source had said ”There is a lock down in the prison, prisons officials are throwing tear-gas at the inmates to cow them because of the last jail break.
Some of the inmates who managed to speak to outsiders, were reported to have said: “We do not know what they want to do with us, some people are on the ground now rolling and crying.
“There is no jailbreak, yet they woke up this morning to start shooting tear gas at us,” they added.
