Why Kuje prison break was successful – Army

The Nigerian Army on Wednesday blamed the July 5, 2022, Kuje prison break on the absence of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and a low fence at the facility.

Major Peter Ogbuinya, the Assistant Director of Commercial Law at the Directorate of Nigerian Army Legal Services, stated this at the investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Justice, Police Affairs, Interior, and Human Rights in Abuja.

Some inmates escaped from Kuje Custodial Centre on 5th July 2022 after a break-in by suspected heavily armed Boko Haram insurgents who attacked the facility to free their members.

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

Ogbuinya, who represented the Chief of Army Staff Taoreed Lagbaja at the hearing, said the custodial centre was located in a densely populated area and had no functional security cameras.

He said the army had talks with the prison authorities about the issue of securing the facility but nothing concrete was done until the day of the incident on July 5th, 2022.

“We observed issues of low fencing and a lack of CCTV cameras within the area, but these were unable to be put in place before the incident,” he said.