Gunmen attack Ekiti prisons, free inmates

One prison official was feared killed, while over 20 security dogs died on Sunday night when gunmen stormed the Federal Prison, on Afao-Ekiti Road, Ado Ekiti. Some inmates were also set free in the attack.

The gunmen, Daily Sun gathered, numbering over 60, arrived in Hilux trucks, armed with dangerous weapons, such as cudgels, cutlasses, AK 47 rifles and charms.
A statement aired on the state radio, Ekiti FM 91.5, alleged that the action was carried out by the All Progressives Congress (APC) thugs.
According to the statement, the attack was aimed at setting free a suspect, Adeniyi Adedipe, a.k.a ‘Apase, who is being remanded in prison custody over the murder of a former chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Chief Omolafe Aderiye.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers chanted ‘Allahu Akbar,’ while they were attacking the prison, hence the suspicion that they could be insurgents.
When Daily Sun visited the prison premises, bloodstains were all over the place. An unidentified prison inmate said he ran out when he heard sporadic shootings at night but had to return to the prison when calm returned.
The Controller of Prison, Mr. Fadipe Abolarin Kehinde, confirmed the attack but denied both the allegation of the loss of life during the attack and the speculation that Adedipe was the reason for the attack.  He stated that the suspect was still in custody.
Said he: “We are moving around to assess the situation. It was not a jailbreak but an attack on the prison. The main entrance of the prison was broken. What happened is that we were attacked from outside, not from within. They came massively with different weapons. They attacked our men on duty, and we have been here since 10.30pm yesterday (Sunday).”
The controller said his men were already out to re-arrest inmates who escaped during the attack. He did not however, give the figure of those that escaped.
“We have some that have been recaptured and kept in police cells,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the APC has denied any link with the attack, describing the accusation as another ploy by the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) to tarnish its image in Ekiti state.
The Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Taiwo Olatubosun, who spoke on the telephone said: “What shall we gain for doing that? We cannot do such things. It is not in our character to do such a thing.”
Olatubosun added: “Very soon, the PDP and the governor will have to accuse God for running a clueless government and for their shortcoming.”
He said the government was talking from the “figment of its imagination,” asking: “Is it the APC that is in charge of the prison or the security of the state? It is the figment of their imagination that the APC is connected with the breaking of the prison. We don’t know anything about it.”
The APC called on the police in the state to build a strong security around the prison, saying the PDP might be planning to attack the facility, with a view to killing the suspect and other inmates.