The Osun State Police Command says it has not received any official communication regarding the escape of seven inmates from the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Ilesa.

DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, the Police Spokesperson in Osun, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the police state command has not been officially briefed or informed of the incident by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

“We heard also about the escape, but there is no official report made to the police by the NCoS.

“Our intel revealed to us that actually, there was an escape.

“The cause of the escape is what we don’t know because our men have gone there.

“From the intelligence report we got, there is nothing we can lay hands on that made the inmates escape.

“The NCoS should inform us about what actually happened,” he said.

Ojelabi said, “The police are out to protect lives and property, and any criminal we see, we will apprehend.”

NAN reports that the NCoS declared seven inmates missing as a result of rain that damaged the security perimeter of the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Ilesa in the early hours of Tuesday.

The heavy rainfall around 2:00 a.m. caused a breach in the facility’s structure, allowing the inmates to escape.

Confirming the development, the Controller-General of Corrections, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, in a statement signed by Umar Abubakar, Deputy Controller of Corrections, Public Relations Officer, on Tuesday, ordered an immediate investigation into the incident and assured the public that efforts were underway to return the escapees to custody.

“The service is working closely with sister security agencies as well as community leaders to recapture the escapees and bring them back to custody,” the NCoS said in the statement.

“However, the Service solicits the cooperation and support of the public in providing information that may lead to the recapture of the fleeing inmates.”

Authorities have since launched a manhunt to recapture the fugitives. (NAN)