Nigeria jailbreak: Hundreds escape 'most fortified' prison

Broken walls are seen at the Kuje maximum prison in Abuja after a rebel attack on 6 July 2022. Photo / AP

Nigerian authorities admitted shortcomings in security at a jail in the nation's capital after an attack that resulted in the escape of hundreds of inmates last week.

The jailbreak in the Kuje area of Abuja led to the escape of 879 inmates, including 64 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province extremist group, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic State-linked group is an offshoot of the Boko Haram militant group involved in a decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria.

One of the escapees from Kuje prison was arrested on Monday, Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said, but with at least 400 inmates still on the run, authorities are expanding the search to neighbouring states.

Burnt out cars are seen outside the Kuje maximum prison following a rebel attack in Kuje, Nigeria. Photo / AP

Nigeria is synonymous with jailbreaks, which have become more frequent in recent years but it was the first time that Abuja is was targeted, shocking many who are now fearful as the West African nation battles a cycle of violence blamed on Islamic extremists and on armed groups mostly in the country's troubled north.

"Kuje [prison] is the most fortified in the country," said Rauf Aregbesola, Nigeria's interior minister. "We had enough men to protect the facility but unfortunately they couldn't hold their position effectively for defence and that was the reason for the breach."

Even the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari could not answer citizens' questions about how the attackers overwhelmed the security forces and about how safe they are in the country of 206 million people. Buhari had more questions instead.

"How can terrorists organise, have weapons, attack a security installation and get away with it?" the Nigerian leader tweeted.

Incessant jailbreaks across Nigeria have freed more than 3000 inmates since the start of last year, media reports show. The Nigerian Correctional Service has begun an appraisal to know "where we have challenges and how to nip it in the bud," said Umar Abubakar, a spokesman for the agency, admitting also that the jailbreak was "a fallout of the security challenges" facing Nigeria.

For many Nigerians, Abuja used to be where they ran to for safety when other parts of the country was attacked, said taxi driver Usman Ahmed. But recent security breaches such as a train attack that killed seven nearby in late March and the Kuje jailbreak mean there is "nowhere to run to", he said.

Authorities blamed the train attack and the jailbreak on extremist rebels who are now expanding their reach beyond the northeast region to other parts of Nigeria including the north-central region where Abuja is, according to analysts.

"There are several terrorist cells already operating in northcentral, northwest and northeastern parts of Nigeria," said Oluwaseyi Adetayo, a former officer of the Nigerian secret police Department of State Services now working as a security expert. "Many of them are already being activated."

After the Kuje jailbreak, the Nigeria police said they have increased surveillance and security patrols in the nation's capital but many are asking how long before another attack happens.

"If you want to encircle Abuja, you need to outline towns to support that kind of large scale operation, so currently all the states bordering Abuja are in turmoil," said Confidence MacHarry, of the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence firm.

In the Kuje area of Abuja, residents told the Associated Press that increased security presence in the town does not make them feel safer.

"The residents in Abuja are afraid, not only in Kuje," said Paschal Obi whose family of five has lived in the Kuje town for years. "Some [escapees] are still hanging around Abuja. They have not gone to their destinations. Personally, I am afraid and it is only God that can take control."