CROSS RIVER: Officer Shot As Police, NCoS Investigate Attack On Afokang Prison

The Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) have begun an investigation of the recent attack on the Afokang Federal Prison in Cross River State that took place on Wednesday night.

The assailants were reportedly unable to break into the prison but were able to attack the security guards at the main entrance, one of whom was shot and is currently receiving medical treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER in a phone interview on Thursday, the State’s police Spokesperson, Irene Ugbo said the police have arrested two people connected to the attack, and they have given useful information about the incident.

Explaining how the attack occurred, Ugbo said, “What happened was that some security service personnel were at their duty last night when some militants emerged from the waterways in Afokang, also known as the Calabar South — A violent area where bad boys reside.

“They came out and attacked prison officers on guard and the police officers that were on duty. One of their rifles was carted away, and they shot one.

“We got the information immediately, and the commissioner of police drafted men there. We arrested two persons. It was a planned attack, but the place has been brought under control. Policemen were drafted there to make sure the place remained peaceful.

When asked about the intentions of the assailants, the police spokesperson said, “We do not know yet that is what we are trying to find out. The people who were arrested have given us information, and I wouldn’t want to say anything until the outcome of the investigation.

“It was a planned work, and there are other persons we believe are connected to the incident. Very soon, we will find out why there was an attempted jailbreak.”

Speaking on subsequent plans to protect the correctional centre, Ugbo said both agencies are collaborating to safeguard the area from non-state actors.

She emphasised that more police operatives will be deployed to the volatile area to boost security as there have been complaints by residents of ongoing criminal activities.

Speaking further on the situation, Abubakar Umar, the spokesperson of the NCoS, told THE WHISTLER that “An investigation will be conducted to know what happened”, considering that the attempted jailbreak or attack on the facility comes over 15 months after the Kuje jailbreak.

The NCoS told THE WHISTLER in July that it would be difficult to attack any of its facilities across the country given the real-time surveillance technology the Service had set up at the headquarters to monitor its facilities and expedite a response time in the event of an attack.

When asked why the Service did not detect the arrival of the militants before the attack on the security guards, Umar said the surveillance and Monitoring capacity of the Service is yet to cover in real-time the 240 facilities of the Service across the country.

“It is capital intensive, seeing the large custodian centres we have across the country, it is not possible to do it at once, and it is a work in progress.

“Also, anything that has to do with technology is capital intensive, and we are walking towards capturing all our custodian centres in the country.”

At the moment, the Service said its monitoring and surveillance technology can only capture “the most vulnerable custodian centres” across the country.