Nigeria Prisons Fires Top Officers Over Abuja Jail Break

The Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board (CDFIPB) has approved the suspension of four senior officers following the recent escape of two high profile inmates, Solomon Amodu and Maxwell Ajukwu, from Kuje Medium Security Prison. Kuje is a suburb of Abuja, Nigeria's capital city. Similarly, the Controller-General of Prisons, Ja'afaru Ahmed, has approved the suspension of 10 junior staff of the prison over the incident. This was contained in a statement on Monday by the spokesperson of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Francis Enobore, a deputy comptroller of prisons. Messrs. Amodu and Ajukwu, both standing trial for culpable homicide, escaped from the prison on June 24. The affected officers and men are DCP Musa Tanko, SIP Buhari Musa Dogo, PIP Stephen Edogbanya J and PIP Patrick Teru. The junior staff suspended are IP Usman Peter, IP Dennis B. Makum, IP, Fassan S. Akin, SPA Daka James, SPA Adamu Luka, SPA Zakari Yunasa and PA Asnamal Samuel. Others are PA Ejegwa Patrick, PA 11 Isah Ibrahim and PA 11 Ngede Salifu. The statement said the suspension of the prisons officials was "sequel to the outcome of the preliminary investigation into the incident and in consonance with PSR 030406 (2008) Revised Version." It also said the officers were suspended from duty to allow for unhindered trial process. It said the commissioned officers among them would be served with letters of query while the junior staff would be given Form 96 (Charge Sheet) to explain their role in the unfortunate saga. The statement also said efforts to recapture the fleeing prisoners in collaboration with sister security agencies were ongoing, adding "this is in addition to tightening security measures in and prison formations nationwide to forestall a repeat of such incident." It added, "The Controller General wishes to solicit the cooperation of members of the public to volunteer useful information that will assist in the recapture of the fugitives."