Kuje Prison Attack: PDP Queries Redeployment of Soldiers 24hrs Before Incident

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has alleged that the All Progressives Congress, APC, was complicit in the terrorist attack on the Kuje Correctional Center on Tuesday night.

The party while condemning the spate of insecurity and the audacity with which terrorists ravage the country unchallenged, asked the party to come clean on what it knows about the attack.

THE WHISTLER had reported that the Defence Minister, Bashir Magashi, said Boko Haram terrorists group unleashed terror on the prison center leading to the escape of many prisoners.

All the Boko Haram terrorists detained in the the facility also escaped.

A statement on Wednesday evening by Dabo Ologunagba, the spokesman of the party said the simultaneous terrorist attacks on the advance convoy of President Muhammadu Buhari in Katsina State as well as the Correctional Facility in Abuja, the nation’s capital, “underscore the collapse of our security command and control structure under the failed, ineffective and uncoordinated Buhari-led APC administration.

“The terrorist attack on President Buhari’s convoy in his home State of Katsina as well as the ferocious invasion and the freeing of hundreds of terrorists and criminals from the Kuje Correctional Facility further confirm that Mr. President has lost control of the security of the nation and that Nigerians are no longer safe under the APC,” the party said.

The statement noted that the escalated spate of terrorism across the country has heightened apprehension of complicity by the APC to open up the country to more terrorist attacks with the view to stall the 2023 general elections.

According to the PDP, the failure of the APC administration to act on the intelligence provided by the Directorate of State Services (DSS) which on Tuesday July 5, 2022 reportedly warned of an impending attack on the Kuje Correctional Facility gives credence to fears by Nigerians of complicity at very high level of the APC administration.

It said this was in addition to further reports that soldiers deployed to the precinct of the Kuje Correctional Facility and who had become familiar with the terrain were redeployed 24 hours before the terrorists attacked.

The PDP demands that the APC government come clean on who ordered the reported redeployment of soldiers and who failed to act on the intelligence provided by the DSS.

“Nigerians can recall the public confession by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai at the wake of the bloody Abuja-Kaduna terrorist attack that the APC-led administration knows the whereabouts and the plans of the terrorists ravaging our nation but deliberately refused to act.

“Nigerians will also recall how APC leaders publicly romanced and paid money to terrorists.

‘It is rather distressing that President Buhari appears helpless without any decisive and concrete steps taken to stem the tide of terrorist attacks in our country,” the statement said.

It added that, “Even more curious is that President Buhari continues to retain Mr. Isa Pantami as Minister of Communication and Digital Economy to head and coordinate this very critical sector in the fight against terrorism in our country in spite of Isa Pantami’s confession of affiliation to terrorists.

“With the sequence of events in the last 48 hours, it is clear to Nigerians that the APC government headed by President Buhari has failed in the basic purpose of government which is to secure life and properties of the citizens.

“Given the urgency of the security situation in the country, it has become imperative that President Buhari convenes an emergency Council of State meeting for a review of the prevailing dangerous security atmosphere in our country,” the statement added.

The PDP also called on the National Assembly to pass a vote of no confidence on Isa Patimi and insist on his immediate removal as a minister.

The National Assembly should also immediately summon the Security Chiefs for a thorough investigation on the circumstances resulting in the failure of our security system, the party demanded.

The party urged Nigerians to remain at alert and keep hope alive as the nightmare of the APC administration will be over by May 2023.