The spokesman for the Nigeria Correctional Service, Francis Enobore, has disclosed that 240 inmates of the medium Security Custodial Centre in Kabba, Kogi State, escaped from the facility after some heavily armed gunmen stormed the centre in the late hours of Sunday.
It remains unclear who the gunmen were but central and northwest Nigeria have been terrorised by criminal gangs for years.
“The medium Security Custodial Centre in Kabba, Kogi State, has been attacked by yet to be identified gunmen and 240 inmates forcefully released,” Nigeria’s correctional service spokesman Francis Enobore said in a statement.
At about 2245 GMT on Sunday, he said, numerous attackers “engaged the armed guards in a fierce gun battle.”
But the gunmen invaded the prison, which had 294 prisoners in custody at the time, including 224 pre-trial detainees.
Investigations were under way Monday to find the escapees, he added.
It will be recalled that in a brazen attack on April 5, gunmen raided Owerri police headquarters, freeing more than 1,800 inmates.
