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The Need To Tighten Security In Prisons

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On Sunday, a number of armed men, some reports put the number at 30, attacked the Olokuta Medium Security Prison in Akure, Ondo State and succeeded in releasing 175 inmates detained there for several criminal offences. The gunmen with improvised explosive devices, came to the prison around midnight and after killing two prison warders, blew off a section of the prison wall to enable the inmates escape.

Among those who escaped were convicted criminals on deathrow, those awaiting trial and those remanded on the orders of the court because they could not meet the conditions attached to their bail. Initially, local people living around the facility attributed the attack to members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect but officials have since dismissed this, saying that the gunmen were hoodlums who came to free their accomplices detained in the prison.

There were also insinuations that the attackers belonged to a group opposed to the recent execution of inmates on death row in the prisons. They were said to be afraid that Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State was about to sign the death warrant of their colleagues condemned to death in the Olokuta prison.

The report revealed that the attack was a pre-emptive move made by the hoodlums to prevent their colleagues from being executed as was the case at the Edo Prison where four inmates on deathrow were executed after Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State had signed their death warrants. The signing of the death warrants followed President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive that state governors were under obligation to sign the death warrants of condemned criminals for execution to be carried out in order to implement the law.

While we join other Nigerians to condemn the attack on the prison facility, we are concerned that attacks on the nations’ prisons are becoming rampant. We are worried because after each attack, nothing concrete is done to prevent a repeat. It is because those charged with providing adequate security at our prisons failed to do their jobs that a bunch of gunmen had the temerity to attack the Olokuta Prison.

We are shocked at the ease with which the gunmen succeeded in attacking the prison and freeing the inmates.Though the authorities claimed there was a gunfight between the gunmen and the warders on duty, we are surprised that the latter suffered two casualties while the gunmen suffered none. We are amazed that the facility which was located near a military barracks was attacked without soldiers coming to the aid of the warders.

If those in charge of the nation’s prisons had been up and doing, they should have known that a prison ought to be a well guarded fortress to make it impossible to attack without the attackers suffering casualties.

Prisons in advanced countries of the world are impregnable fortresses with a complement of security gadgets and well trained warders. It is our suggestion that a total overhaul of our prisons is needed to prevent frequent jailbreaks like we have witnessed of recent. Security should be beefed up in all the prisons while warders should be provided with sophisticated weapons and surveillance gadgets mounted on the facilities to ward off invaders.

A situation where untrained gunmen will attack our prisons to free hardened crimnals on death row does not speak well of us as a serious country.

The Federal Government should take a look at the security situation in the prisons and do something urgently to prevent a reoccurence of what happened in Olokuta Prison. The Akure incident should serve as an eye opener for the authorities to address the shortcomings in the prison system.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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