Officers wounded as inmates attempt jailbreak in Edo

Some officers at the correctional centre in Ubiaja, Edo state, sustained injuries on Wednesday, as some inmates attempted to break out of prison.

The incident, which was said to have occurred between 3pm and 5pm, was unsuccessful, as officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the army, and the police were drafted to the scene.

According to NAN, at the correctional facility located in Ubiaja, Esan south-east LGA, inmates engaged the prison officers in a fight, before the arrival of the security agencies.

Richard Ogbebor, public relations officer (PRO) of the NSCDC Edo command, in a statement, explained that the corps received a distress call on the attempted jailbreak and subsequently mobilised its personnel, led by Samuel Ogbeide, an assistant superintendent of corps 1, to the facility.

Ogbebor said on getting to the facility, it was discovered that the inmates had broken out from their cells and were engaging the correctional officers in a fight.

He noted that as part of efforts to restore order, some of the officers sustained different degrees of injury.

He, however, added that officers from the Nigerian army, 4th brigade, and the Edo command of the Nigeria police force, who were also deployed to the facility eventually overpowered the inmates and returned them to their cells.

Ogbebor added that security has been beefed up at the correctional facility, with officers deployed to the centre from different security agencies.

There have been several jailbreaks across the country over the past months — one of the most recent incidents was an attack by gunmen at the Imo correctional centre, during which over 1,800 inmates were said to have escaped from custody.

The Wednesday incident also comes months after hoodlums broke into prisons in Edo state, with close to 2,000 inmates reportedly set free during the incident.