Gunmen whose identities still remain unknown have attacked the Federal Prisons, Ado Ekiti on Sunday night and killed one person suspected to be a prison official.
The assailants who were said to be about 60,had stormed the prisons located at Afao Ekiti Road,Ado Ekiti on Sunday night at about 10.30pm
The gang were said to have employed the use of dynamite to bomb the main gate before they can gain entrance into the prisons yard
They equally killed all the 20 sniffer dogs tied in front of the gate.
The gang were said to have came to the prison premises with about seven Hilux trucks, brandishing dangerous weapons such as cudgels, cutlasses, AK 47 rifles , charms and chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they shot sporadically into the air .
Vanguard further gathered that the gunshots and the bombing were so deafening to the extent that the inmates had to run in different directions to prevent being mowed down by these gun-wielding assailants.
Journalists were not allowed to enter the premises during a visit to the prisons today (Monday).
Earlier in the day, in a statement aired on the state radio, had alleged that the action was carried out by APC thugs to free a leader of Oodua People’s Congress, Niyi Adedipe who was imprisoned on the order of the Court over alleged murder of a former chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Chief Omolafe Aderiye.
The APC image maker in the state , Chief Taiwo Olatubosun, who spoke on the telephone said “what shall we gain for doing that. We cannot do such things. It is not in our character to do such things.”
Olatubosun added “Very soon the PDP and the governor will have to accuse God for running a clueless government and for their shortcoming.”
He said the APC was talking from the “figment of its imagination” asking “is it the APC that is in charge of the prison or the security of the state? It is the figment of their imagination that the APC is connected with the breaking of the prison. We don’t know anything about it.”
The Comptroller of Prison, Ekiti State, Mr. Kehinde Fadipe , who later after much pressure spoke with the newsmen confirmed the attack, but denied loss of life during the attack and that Adeniyi Adedipe, was still in their custody.
“We are moving around to assess the situation. It was not a jail break but an attack on the prison.The main entrance of the prison was broken.
“What happened is that we were attacked from outside not from within, they came massively with different weapons, they attacked our men on duty, and we have been here since 10.30 yesterday (Sunday).”
On those that escaped from prison, the comptroller said his men were already out to re-arrest inmates that escaped during the attack.
He said he has no Boko Haram member in the prison to warrant attack from the Islamic sect, saying it would be preposterous to draw conclusion now on where the attack actually came.
He equally failed to give the figure of those that escaped and those that had returned into the prisons on their own.
The Comptroller added that some of the escaped inmates “have been recaptured and kept in police cells.
Meanwhile,the state governor,Mr Fayose has expressed displeasure at the Sunday jail break of the federal prison in the state capital ,assuring that all the perpetrators would fail.
“We regret the jail break perpetrated by the evil people which led to the escape of many inmates. I want you to know that I have the grace of God on me and whoever plans against us shall be destroyed. My prayer is that they will not know peace
