President Muhammadu Buhari has on Wednesday, expressed disappointment that the terror attack on Abuja's Kuje Prison, was allowed to be successfully executed despite several directives demanding that insecurity be put to the sword once and for all before he leaves office in 2023.
Attackers believed to be terrorists, had invaded the Kuje Prison on Monday wrecking havoc, leading to the escape of a total of 879 inmates in the process, although 443 inmates have been recaptured according to a recent undated by the Nigerian Correctional Service on Wednesday.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was briefed on the incident by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Belgore and the Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, was left fuming even as he questioned the security's influence system.
Buhari has been bullish on the performance of his government in the area of security, saying "terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria" in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
“We leave Nigeria in a far better place than we found it. Corruption is less hidden for Nigerians feel empowered to report it without fear, while money is returned; terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria, and their leaders are deceased,” Buhari wrote in an email response to Bloomberg who had asked him to rate his performance on the three key metrics (anti-corruption, economy and security) upon which he campaigned.
However, with the recent attack on the Kuje Prison facility in Abuja and his security convoy in his home state of Katsina within a week, the president obviously has reasons to be concerned.
“I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organize, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?” Buhari vents after a visit to the site.
The President was shown the bombed-out section used to access first, and the records office which was set on fire, and was told that the invaders thereafter launched an attack on all cells in which Boko Haram terrorists were held.
“The President was apprised that, at the end of it, none of the 63 terrorists are accounted for, but it was emphasized that records are not lost because they have been backed up”, the statement read.
“How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack? How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for? How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?” he queried.