THE Nigerian Prisons Service may adopt new security procedure for the transportation of deadly suspects after Wednesday’s bloody attack on officials conveying armed robbery and kidnap suspects from the Warri Federal Prison, Okere-Warri, Delta State to court.
The Comptroller-General of the NPS, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, dropped the hint when he visited officials of the Warri Prison at the Lily Clinic Warri were they are being treated for gunshot wounds they sustained in the attack.
No fewer than five persons, including four prison warders and an inmate, were killed when armed hoodlums opened fire on a convoy conveying the suspects to a nearby court for trial.
Ibrahim said the service “would go back to the drawing board to re-strategise.”
Four suspects, including a very notorious kidnap kingpin suspected to be the mastermind of the deadly attack, are still on the loose, much to the chagrin of the Delta State Police Command that worked hard to arrest them.
Four of the suspects were rearrested through support of youths in the Okere area of Warri where the attack took place.
The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Okechukwu Aduba, lamented that it was procedurally inappropriate for the NPS to take such suspects to court without adequate security and notice to the police.
However, the Comptroller-General, who refused to be drawn into debate with the Delta CP on the matter, noted that the level of security provided for the Wednesday’s movement was adequate, considering the distance from the prison to the court and the ratio of prison warden to prisoner.
“A lot of things are taken into consideration when moving prisoners, like the distance and the number of people you are taking. Since the court was just 200 metres away, the security arrangement was adequate. We had seven of our men taking nine inmates to court which I think was adequate considering the distance but it was just unfortunate.
“Can you tell me any organisation that does not experience this type of incident. All over the world, even the army, police and what have you, things like these happen. You know that society is dynamic and whenever things like these happen, we go back to the drawing board and try to re-strategise,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim revealed that an intense manhunt has been launched to apprehend the four suspects that are currently on the run, stressing, “Out of eight, four are already around and four are still at large. Investigation is going on with the police and other security agents; efforts are on to ensure that the rest are apprehended.”
The NPS top shot urged men of the service not to be deterred by the Wednesday bloodbath, noting that “these are parts of the challenges, especially when it comes to security work. Immediately you put on uniform you have put on the uniform to serve this country and we are also praying always for God to help us. But you know when we have this type of incident so many people will be touched.”