Army chief says concerns were raised before attack on Kuje prison in 2022

Taoreed Lagbaja, chief of army staff (COAS), says security concerns regarding the Kuje prison were brought to the attention of the authorities of the correctional centre before the attack on the facility.

Lagbaja spoke on Wednesday when he appeared before an investigative hearing organised by the house of representatives joint committees on reformatory institutions, justice, police affairs, interior and human rights.

On July 5, 2022, insurgents attacked the Kuje correctional facility in the federal capital territory (FCT) and freed hundreds of inmates, including suspected Boko Haram members.

Some of the inmates have been rearrested while some are still at large.

Idris Wase, deputy speaker of the house of representatives in the ninth assembly, had said at the time that the Department of State Services (DSS) shared 44 intelligence reports before the attack on the correctional centre.

Speaking at the committee hearing, Lagbaja, who was represented by Peter Ogbuinya, assistant director of commercial law at the directorate of army legal services, said security concerns were shared with the deputy controller-general of prisons before the attack.

He said troops around the area were withdrawn and replaced on the day the security breach occurred.

“Unfortunately, the day the incident took place, there is what we call rotation among the troops,” he said.

“Take for instance, at the end of every month, troops would be rotated. New soldiers would be brought in to replace the old ones.

“Unfortunately, it was that day during the period of rotation that the incident actually took place.

“But I know that prior to that incident, the Nigeria Army through the guards brigade commander wrote a series of letters to the deputy controller-general concerning some of the security observations, or better still, some things that would enhance the security within the facility.

“We know that the deputy controller general is doing everything possible to see if most of these equipment that would enhance the security are provided. However, it was still in the process when the incident happened.”

LOW FENCING, ABSENCE OF CAMERA, AND LIGHTING ISSUE

Lagbaja said there were concerns about the lighting of the general area of the facility before the attack.

“One of those things was the issue of lightening. During the period, we noticed that there was no lightning within the general area,” he said. 

“It’s not as if it was deliberate. Efforts were being made by the deputy controller to see if we could find solutions to some of these challenges.

“We also observed that the place where the Kuje prison is located is more of a built-up area and that gives room for a serious security challenge where a lot of civilians are living in the prison environment.

“These are some of the challenges the environment created. We also observed issues of low fencing and CCTV absence within the general area.

“These are some of the things that we observed and these things were unable to be put in place before the incident.

“I want to believe that these things would have assisted the guards to know what is happening and possibly to see how they could (respond).”

‘TROOPS TRIED TO RETURN FIRE’

The army chief said troops on the ground on the day of the attack returned fire but could not stop the security breach.

“The troops tried their best by returning fire to the Boko Haram terrorists,” he said.

“However, it was very unfortunate that the built-up of the general area was not sufficient to actually curtail the terrorists that came from different dimensions and became a challenge because we are deployed in so many operations and could not deploy more to assist the correctional Centre.

“However, I want to believe that efforts are being made to see how we can improve on the security challenges confronting the correctional centre.”

Lagbaja said the troops on the ground on the day of the attack are under investigation to ascertain if there was any compromise.

“Troops that we deployed are under investigation and the military hierarchy is still working on possibly finding out if there is any the soldiers that had failed to do what they were expected to do and possibly disciplinary action taken,” he said.