Jos jail break, a bad omen, threat to Nigeria – PPBA

The Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA), has described the recent attack on the Jos custodial centre by gunmen as a "bad omen" and threat to Nigeria's fight against insecurity. The Director General of the agency, Mr Joseph Lengmang, said this at an interactive session with journalists on Friday in Jos. Supreme reports that gunmen invaded the custodial centre on Sunday evening, killed a personnel of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), nine inmates, while 252 inmates escaped during the invasion.

Mr Mohammed Tukur, Deputy Controller General of NCoS in charge of Operations, blamed the attack on paucity of modern equipment and other gadgets. According to Lengmang, the attack remains a serious threat to the ongoing fight against insecurity in the state and the country in general. He further decried the recurrent jail breaks in the country and described the trend as dangerous and unhealthy for the society. He said it is unfortunate that jail breaks have been a recurrent decimal in this country. It occurs in Imo, Kogi and by and large, what happened few days ago at the Jos custodial centre calls for deep concern and worry.

He said the 252 inmates who escaped from the centre will have negative impact on the society. They don't know if they are armed, who and where they are. This development poses a serious threat to the current fight against insecurity because they have gone back into the society and there is tendency to unleash mayhem. Lengmang, who condemned the attack, called on security agencies to intensify efforts to rearrest the fleeing inmates. He called on the Federal Government to install modern security equipment at the various custodial centres across the country to avert future occurrences.