Nigeria: Slow Response to Kuje Prison Attack

It is now over two weeks since the attack on the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje area of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has done little or nothing to reassure Nigerians of their safety.

The attack, which happened five days into July 2022, once again, exposed the general insecurity in the country.

In the attack carried out by over 300 terrorists, not less than 800 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram terrorists, were freed, according to the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS).

Buhari, in his immediate response to the attack, said he was disappointed in the country’s intelligence operatives.

‘How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it? I am expecting a comprehensive report on this shocking incident’, Buhari tweeted.

Some civil society actors, including the Chief Executive of Connected Development (CODE), Hamzat Lawal, had called on the president to take urgent action.

‘The Kuje prison attack is only a confirmation of what we all already knew – our security system and architecture has failed and unless the government begins to act, we are on the high road to dooms day’, he told Development Diaries.

‘For terrorists to break into a medium-security prison in the nation’s capital and release imprisoned members of Boko Haram, the only logical conclusion is that we are no longer safe and more attacks are likely to happen across the country.

‘Nigeria is currently ranked sixth on the 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), and we have seen the effect on the economy and our reputation to the global community’.

The Kuje centre is one of Nigeria’s most secure prisons, with the jail guarded by soldiers, police, Civil Defence Corps operatives, the State Security Service and the prison’s armed squad, according to the NCS.

How then was the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) able to carry out the attack? Could ISWAP have had help from inside the prison or the security forces?

‘I am no security expert but if those in charge of ensuring that attacks like these never happen or are successfully repelled, then they should be sacked and made to account for their failure’, Lawal added.

The country’s Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said this week that a preliminary report of the investigation into the attack had been sent to the president.

‘We have identified all those whose action or inaction led to that unfortunate incident and those who have sacked their responsibility will have to face the consequences of their action’, the minister told journalists in Abuja.

It is the responsibility of government to protect its citizens. The inability to achieve that would mean the government has failed in its duties.

Photo source: Presidency Nigeria

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