By Donald Ezeora
The Nigerian Army has detained the soldiers that were on duty at the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre in Abuja on the day terrorists attacked the facility, releasing 64 high profile Boko Haram terrorists and over 260 other hardened criminals.
The soldiers are undergoing interrogation following reports that they did not fire a bullet to defend the facility.
Adadareporters.com had learnt that the over 50 personnel comprising military, police, Civil Defence, DSS and prisons armed guards did not mount a defence of the Kuje prison in Abuja on July 5 when the facility came under attack by ISWAP terrorists with an independent investigator telling the media that the only bullet shells recovered from the prison environment in the three-hour raid came from the terrorists.
The investigator also revealed that the four inmates killed on that day were fleeing inmates gunned down by soldiers at checkpoints away from the prison.
The military authorities also came under attack as it was reported that soldiers guarding the facility were withdrawn 12 hours before the attack.
Senate president Ahmad Lawan was among observers who alleged internal connivance and called for an investigation.
The military, the intelligence services and the Nigerian Correctional Services have been under pressure because of the security failures at levels to predict the attack and repel the terrorists when they launched.
According to findings, the officers under detention are currently being interrogated by a military investigation panel.
Adadareporters.com reports that following the attack, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has been under pressure for a comprehensive enquiry into the incident, to punish those who may have colluded with the terrorists. And those whose criminal negligence conduced to the attack.
Even President Buhari had expressed dismay at the security failure in the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, asking: “I am disappointed with the intelligence system. How can terrorists organize, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?”
“How did the defences at the prison fail to prevent the attack? 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?”
Military sources said an officer and the soldiers have been held in an underground cell at the special military detention facility in Abuja. They
When contacted the Assistant Director Army Public Relations, Guards Brigade, Captain Godfrey Abakpa said the soldiers were not arrested but invited as part of the investigation.
He said the federal government had tasked guards brigade and other security agencies to launch an investigation to unravel circumstances surrounding the incident.
“There is no arrest. If the investigation has not been concluded there cannot be an arrest, otherwise how do you get the facts?
“There is no arrest, there is an investigation ongoing and the essence of this is to get the details of what happened before, during and after the attack.
” If anyone is at the SIB, it is based on the ongoing investigation. It is expected to see the movement of those who are involved that does not mean they have been arrested”
