Stephen Ukandu, News/Features Editor
The whereabouts of the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, remains unknown after gunmen suspected to be terrorists attacked Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, on Tuesday night.
Kyari was among the high-profile inmates in the facility before the terror attack.
About 600 inmates were said to have escaped after the attack which lasted for hours.
Ikengaonline gathered that Kuje prison is used for holding high-profile inmates and suspects, including former governors and ministers.
According to officials, the facility houses over 900 inmates.
One person was said to have died and three others injured during the attack.
A prison source said Kyari had not been sighted after the attack, thus heightening suspicion that he might be among the escapees.
“We have not seen him today. He didn’t also come for Subhi (early morning) prayer as usual. But I don’t know what is happening,”a source in the prison told our correspondent.
Another official, who pleaded not to be mentioned, said that the whereabouts of Kyari remained unknown to him as of 09.30am.
“I am sure he is not missing and he didn’t escape. But I don’t know where exactly he is,” the official said.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Umar Abubakar, said “Kyari is not missing.”
Abubakar also noted that Kyari has not been moved from the Kuje prison.
“He is still in our custody. Nothing happened to him. He has not been moved.”
Abubakar had in a statement in the early hours of Wednesday said the armed squad of the service in collaboration with other security agencies responded to the attack.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Mr Shuaibu Belgore, has, during a visit to the Centre Wednesday morning, confirmed that about 600 inmates escaped from the facility.
Belgore explained that over 300 of the inmates have been retrieved.
He suspected that the gunmen attacked the facility to rescue their terrorism co-conspirators.
