By Precious Igbonwelundu
The Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to Kogi Governor on Security, Commander Jerry Omodara (rtd.) has said the State was resolute in its drive to ensure security and safety.
He stated this while reacting to Monday’s jailbreak at the Kabba Medium Custodial Facility that led to the escape of 240 inmates.
Already, Omodara said 120 of the inmates who fled have been re-arrested, adding that the state was given the issue all necessary attention despite that the correctional facility was the Federal Government’s jurisdiction.
According to Omodara, security apparatus of the state was already being rejigged to prevent a recurrence of such sad incident.
He said: “The security is working in progress. It is not far from the knowledge of security architecture put in place by the government.
“Kogi used to be one of the worst in terms of security in this country so much so that people were avoiding the state because it was the capital of kidnappers.
“But that changed along the line because concrete steps were taken to contain insecurity. We see the incident of Monday as a set back on our records in terms of security but it will also make us prepare more and rejig our architecture.
“You should know that where was attacked is a federal institution but that not withstanding, the response to the attack was fantastic. For now, I can tell you that about 120 of the inmates have been gotten.
“We are moving very fast to make sure we get them all back into the cell because that will rebuild confidence.”
Omodara admitted the incident must have been thoroughly planned, adding that high profile criminals were released during the break.
“If you are saying it was politically motivated, I won’t shy away from that because we have high profile criminals there.
“However, with our own apparatus in place, it has given us leverage to look at how to prevent it in future.
“What happened cannot be far away from politics because of the emerging political situations in the country.
“We will not look at what has happened rather, we will be very focused on what we are doing and ensure we do not allow this to distract us but put our eyes on the ball to be sure we keep the state safe.”
In his reaction, a former Department of State Services (DSS) director, Dennis Amachree, blamed the lack of structures and process for the jailbreak, adding that the incident told a lot about the country’s criminal justice system.
He lamented the absence of standard reinforced perimeter walls, anti-scaling concertina wiring on the walls and alarm system to alert the guards of a breach.
“A system where innovations are only in name and not in structure or process. Kogi Medium Security Correctional Facility was breached because lessons were not learnt from previous jailbreaks in Kogi State and indeed in the country at large.
“The faults can be found in the structures of our prisons. Some of these prisons environment are not designed to prevent a breach.
“There are no standard re-inforced perimeter walls. No anti-scaling concertina wiring on the walls and definitely no alarm system to alert the guards of a breach.
“Secondly, the prisoners are still locked up like animals in a zoo, rather than being helped to reform from their crimes. “Except we correct these anomalies I can tell you another prison break is around the corner,” he said.
Amachree dismissed insinuations that the attack was political, noting that there were over 100 persons awaiting trial in the facility.
“Some of them are bandits. Their colleagues outside felt they should attack the facility and free their buddies,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources had alleged an intelligence report was intercepted that revealed a plan to make Kogi State insecure through a number of attacks on Koton-Karfe, Mopamuro, Yagba East, Yagba West, Adavi, Ankpa and Idah.
Also schools in Lokoja, Dekina and Kabba were said to have been targeted by the attackers, whose aim, conspiracy theorists believe, was to whittle down the exploits recorded in terms of security.
At the receipt of the Intelligence report, it was gathered that the state immediately commenced combing of the mentioned areas to arrest persons suspected to be connected with the planned attacks.
