By Dayo Johnson, Akure

The arrival of 30 armed men at the Olokuta Medium Security Prison, Akure, at about 12.05 a.m., last Sunday, in commando style, shouting, ‘We are Boko Haram’, was enough to send jitters down the spines of the prison officials.

Reports said the gunmen invaded the prison mainly to free some of their colleagues arrested by the police  for armed robbery in one of the new generation banks in Akure. On arrival, they headed  to  Cell D where their members were allegedly kept and bombed the wall to set them loose.

175 suspected hardened criminals, many of whom were billed to be executed, escaped in the jail break that Minister of Interior Abba Moro described as an embarrassment.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the gunmen lined the Akure-Ore expressway and the long tarred street that leads to the prison shooting sporadically Walls of other cells within the prison and the watch towers were riddled with bullets while all the street lights within the premises were destroyed with gunshots. Also, some vehicles parked in the premises were damaged

The prison is less than a kilometre to the headquarters of the 32, Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Owena Barrack located on the Akure-Ore expressway.

While the gunmen freed their colleagues, other suspects kept in the same prison for armed robbery, among other offences,  took advantage of the situation and escaped.

*Jail break victim

The gunmen, according to sources, came in buses and  cars.

The claim by the gunmen that they were Boko Haram insurgents made security operatives attached to the prison to abandon the place to hide in nearby bushes and the prison primary school while some jumped the fence on hearing the sound of the dynamites used to blow the wall of the prison.

A Mobile Police man, an inspector, was one of the survivors.

Dependable sources at the prison said the inspector, who was on duty, was seen by the leader of the gang and was about to be shot by one of his men when the leader pleaded for him saying he was a “woman” and that he should be spared.

The Mobile Policeman, who, out of fear, could not walk on his legs, resulted to crawling into the bush to escape the firepower displayed by the gunmen. Although he too survived, the commander of the Mobile Police Unit attached to the prison, identified  as Isaac, who rushed to the scene after he was informed of the jail break by his subordinates,  was not as lucky as he was shot on the leg. He was treated at the military hospital in Akure.

Insider’s job theory

Meanwhile, reports said some warders and other prison officials may have been quizzed for allegedly aiding an external force to attack and free hardened criminals.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the Prison High Command has ordered a probe into the jail break which, according to sources, may have had input of either the security men attached to the prison or the officials of the facility. It was speculated that it may also be a joint collaboration between security men and prison officials.

This submission was buttressed by the allegation that security in the Olokuta Prison was relaxed before the attack. Also, it was alleged that those who were supposed to man the two towers strategically located within the prison premises did not notify the security attached to the place of the arrival of external forces which was a major security lapse.

Unconfirmed report said some warders and prison officials were under probe for the security lapse that Sunday.

It was gathered that the Interior Minister, Moro, has requested the state prison comptroller, Tunde Olayiwola, to furnish his office with details of the jail break and to bring to book if there waany complicity on the part of the prison officials and security officials attached to the place

Escapees in brothels

However, the Ondo State Police Command, the day after the jail break, announced that 54 of the escapees had been re-arrested in brothels in Akure and environs where they were identified by residents as strangers.

The state police image maker, Wale Ogodo, said many of the escaped inmates were re-arrested in  Idanre, Owo, Ondo and Akure, the state capital. Findings revealed that those picked up in brothels were more than 20.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that following a tip off by some village heads in the areas, the police swooped on them and arrested them

The state prison comptroller, Olayiwola, in his reaction to the jail break, described it as unusual, noting that many of the fleeing prisoners had been re-arrested and returned to the prison.

Olayiwola, who said the re-arrest of the escapees was a continuous exercise, dispelled the speculation  that the attack was masterminded by Boko Haram.

”We cannot specifically identify those behind the attack, but the attack is unusual. One of our officers was injured and he is in the hospital right now receiving treatment but I am assuring that those behind the attack, we will bring them to book”, he said.

The prison comptroller  noted that the attack was the first of its kind in the history of the prison.