President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed dissatisfaction with the intelligence system and utilisation at Abuja’s Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje.
He said this to journalists on Wednesday during a visit to the correctional facility, which was attacked by terrorists Tuesday night.
“I am disappointed with the intelligence system,” President Buhari was quoted as saying in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu. “How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?”
Soon after he arrived at the facility, the President was briefed about the attack by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Belgore, and the Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa.
Both men showed President Buhari the bombed-out section and the records office, which was set on fire, adding that the invaders thereafter launched an attack on all cells in which Boko Haram terrorists were held.
He was also apprised that, at the end of the attack, none of the 63 terrorists were accounted for, but the records were not lost because they had been backed up.
The President was also informed that the security forces have recaptured 350 of the escapees while about 450 others were still unaccounted for, and that rapid work was underway to recapture them.
According to Shehu, President Buhari, like most Nigerians, was shocked by both the scale and audacity of the attack.
“How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack?” the President queried. “How many inmates were in the facility? How many of them can you account for?
“How many personnel did you have on duty? How many of them were armed? Were there guards on the watchtower? What did they do? Does the CCTV work?”
The President, accompanied by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, said he was expecting “a comprehensive report” on the incident at the end of the visit.