•Five died in riot, says inmate
Interior Minister, Mr. Patrick Abba Moro, yesterday said government had initiated efforts to tackle the worrisome condition of inmates in Nigerian prisons in order to meet up with international standards.
He spoke during his visit to the Medium Security Prisons, Kirikiri in Lagos for its on-the-spot assessment and ascertaining the damages and the cause of the riot that rocked it last Friday.
The minister said: “From the information made available, the immediate cause of the riot is that an inmate came unauthorised and installed some gadgets without the knowledge of the officials. What it meant therefore was that a convict, who brought in some gadgets, instigated the inmates to complain and that led to the fracas. But, the police and other security agencies have intervened and calmed down the situation.
“More fundamentally, there is need for us to think about the level of freedom the inmates enjoy, especially compared to the level of international practices. The two gatherings representing the inmates are the chapel and the mosque. Christianity is Christianity, and in the world over, one worship ground is usually provided for the inmates. The prison services must review the institutions of worship in our prisons.”
“What also comes to mind is the state of facilities in some of our prisons. It requires some level of rehabilitation. At the moment, we have the issue of congestion, and it is very unacceptable that we have a prison which is accommodating 2,536 inmates. Out of this number, only 98 are convicts. We have 2,434 inmates awaiting trial,” he added.
“When we finish our assessment,” Moro noted, “we will be able to address the problem of congestion in our prisons. The president has approved an inter-ministerial committee for this. This is one committee that will come up with some solutions. We are working on that. We must have facilities that conform to international practices.”
However, contrary to claims by the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) that only one person died during the riot, facts emerged yesterday that five inmates were killed.
About 9.45 pm on Saturday, according to an inmate, “Five inmates were killed. It was not a jail-break, but a riot. The new Deputy Comptroller of Prisons (DCP) ordered that some of the things we used should be seized. These items included fan, generator, pots and others. But what annoyed us was that he also banned raw food in the prisons. This means our family members or anybody can no longer bring raw food for us. The type of food they cook in this place is bad. This is why most inmates cook.
“We heard they said only one inmate died; it’s a lie! The person who said that is a liar! Let me tell you the truth, none of us planned to escape. And those killed were deliberately shot and not because they attempted to escape.”
On Friday, guns boomed at the Kirikiri area, forcing those residing to scamper for safety. It was later discovered that inmates were rioting. Initial report however claimed that some inmates attempted a jail-break.
The immediate cause of the Friday riot, a source said, was when a warder tried to seize a fan belonging to an inmate called “General Overseer.” The inmates, it was learnt, started chanting “we no gree ooo …we no gree,” following which the situation snowballed with the inmates pelting stones at warders and breaking glasses.
The prisons’ authorities, the source said, were forced to bring in soldiers, who allegedly opened fire on inmates who allegedly attempted to escape.
Fatinikun said a probe panel had been constituted to look into the cause of the riot, adding that seven inmates sustained injuries. Three, he said, were treated and discharged, while four were hospitalised.
He revealed that an inmate died last Saturday morning, while three were still in hospital.
